Kazakh opposition accuses US of double standards

ALMATY, May 23 (Reuters) Kazakhstan's opposition accused the United States today of backing what they see as the authoritarian regime of President Nursultan Nazarbayev and valuing oil more than democracy.

Nazarbayev, who has been in power since 1989, would have had to step down when his current term expires in 2012, but he changed the constitution this week to give himself the right to stay in office for life.

Washington called the amendments, which included other reforms such as strengthening parliament, a move in the ''right direction''.

''Anyone who is more or less educated will see they are only 10 percent democratic and the rest is aimed at strengthening the authoritarian regime,'' Zharmakhan Tuyakbai, head of the opposition Social Democratic party, told a news conference.

In contrast to the US stance on Kazakhstan, an oil-rich nation key to its energy policy in the region, US President George W Bush has criticised Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin over democracy.

''It's absurd and hypocritical when Bush lectures Putin on democracy at a time when in (Russia's) neighbouring country ...

such an usurpation of power is under way,'' said another opposition politician, Tulegen Zhukeyev.

While calling the amendments a positive step, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said, however, the reforms were not ''exactly what we would have hoped''.

It remains unclear if Nazarbayev, who has not publicly commented on the matter, intends to stay on - or if, like some analysts say, the move was part of his attempt to put an end of internal squabbling in his entourage over his successor.

Another opposition leader, Bolat Abilov, said ''even monarchs don't have such power'', adding that the opposition was preparing to hold a rally to protest against the amendments next week.

Both in Kazakhstan and in Russia, where Putin is due to step down in 2008, some foreign investors have said they preferred continuity of policy and contract guarantees to a sudden change in political leadership.

Nazarbayev's supporters say an extended rule would help the nation - whose economy has expanded by about 10 per cent a year in past years - remain stable and investor-friendly.

US oil firms have invested heavily in Kazakhstan, which is expected to join the world's top 10 oil producers in a decade.

Washington has also persuaded Kazakhstan to join a pipeline that takes Caspian oil to European markets while bypassing Russia.

Opposition leaders said they would raise their concerns about the United States during the visit of Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher to Kazakhstan next month.

REUTERS DS BST1842