Kazakhstan President Tokayev Appoints New Vice President and Prime Minister
Erlan Karin named Vice President, Olzhas Bektenov nominated for Prime Minister role.
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev
Photograph: Masato Kanda via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
What this story says
- Erlan Karin has been appointed Vice President of Kazakhstan.
- Olzhas Bektenov has been nominated for the position of Prime Minister.
- The Kurultai supported Bektenov's nomination with 137 votes in favour.
- Karin previously held the role of first deputy head of the presidential administration.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 10 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 11 of the 21 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .
Trust
42/100
Craft
57/100
Hype
20/100
21 sources · methodology
Missing from the left
Only 2 of the 10 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.
A reader who follows the left would not have seen this. We report the absence rather than explain it: outlets choose what to cover for many reasons, and we have no evidence about which one applies here.
Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has appointed Erlan Karin as Vice President and nominated Olzhas Bektenov to serve as Prime Minister. Karin had previously been the first deputy head of the presidential administration. The Kurultai, Kazakhstan's parliament, supported Bektenov's nomination with 137 votes in favour, 7 abstentions, and 144 non-voting members.
Kurultai vote on Prime Minister nomination
Reports differ on the exact number of non-voting members present during the Kurultai's vote on Olzhas Bektenov's nomination for Prime Minister. Interfax.ru stated there were 144 non-voting members. Belta.by reported that 141 deputies supported Erlan Karin's appointment as Vice-President, but did not specify the number of non-voting members for Bektenov's nomination.
What the coverage left out
None of the left or centre-rated reports mention the specific vote count for Olzhas Bektenov's nomination by the Kurultai, which was detailed in the right-rated reports from Interfax.ru and The Astana Times.
Coverage settled. We checked this 31 times and stopped on 5 Sept 2026, 17:00. The figures above are what it finished at.
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
2 rated outlets
- The left-rated report from CGTN led with President Tokayev proposing Olzhas Bektenov as Prime Minister. It stated that Erlan Karin was appointed Vice President. The report mentioned Karin's previous role as first deputy head of the presidential administration.
Centre
1 rated outlet
- The centre-rated report from WTVB highlighted President Tokayev's appointment of Erlan Karin as Vice President. It noted that Karin is a longtime adviser and that the Vice President role was created under a new constitution. The report also mentioned that the office is for Central Asia's largest economy.
Right
7 rated outlets
- Six right-rated reports focused on the appointments made by President Tokayev. News-pravda.com, The Astana Times, EADaily, The Straits Times, and Interfax.ru all reported on Erlan Karin's appointment as Vice President and Olzhas Bektenov's nomination as Prime Minister. News-pravda.com noted Karin's prior service as first deputy head of the presidential administration and state counsellor. The Astana Times stated Karin was elected Vice President and Bektenov was backed to remain Prime Minister by the Kurultai. Interfax.ru detailed the Kurultai's vote, stating 137 supported Bektenov's nomination, with 7 abstentions and 144 non-voting members. Vz.ru reported Tokayev nominated Bektenov for Head of Government after consultations with parliamentary factions.
Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover Kazakhstan President Tokayev Appoints New Vice President and Prime…?
- Of the 10 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 20% are rated left, 10% are rated centre, 70% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 21. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is Kazakhstan President Tokayev Appoints New Vice President and Prime… left or right?
- Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 10 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
- Is the coverage of Kazakhstan President Tokayev Appoints New Vice President and Prime… biased?
- Kazakhstan President Tokayev Appoints New Vice President and Prime Minister is one event reported by 21 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which side is not reporting Kazakhstan President Tokayev Appoints New Vice President and Prime…?
- When we first saw this story, outlets rated left had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
- Which outlets covered Kazakhstan President Tokayev Appoints New Vice President and Prime…?
- 21 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- Who was appointed Vice President of Kazakhstan?
- Erlan Karin was appointed as the Vice President of Kazakhstan. He previously served as the first deputy head of the presidential administration.
- Who was nominated for Prime Minister of Kazakhstan?
- Olzhas Bektenov was nominated for the position of Prime Minister of Kazakhstan. His nomination received support from the Kurultai.
- What was the outcome of the Kurultai vote for Prime Minister?
- The Kurultai supported the nomination of Olzhas Bektenov for Prime Minister with 137 votes in favour, 7 abstentions, and 144 non-voting members.
Read it at the source
21 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
2Centre
1Right
7- Kazakhstan's Tokayev appoints adviser vice president (opens Independent Journal Review in a new tab)
Independent Journal Review — is Independent Journal Review biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has signed decrees appointing Erlan Karin as the country’s vice president and Oljas Bektenov as Kazakhstan’s prime minister, according to documents published by the presidential press se.. (opens news-pravda.com in a new tab)
news-pravda.com — is news-pravda.com biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Karin Elected Vice President as Bektenov Stays on as Prime Minister (opens The Astana Times in a new tab)
The Astana Times — is The Astana Times biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Tokaev Appointed Erlan Karin as Vice-President of Kazakhstan: EADaily (opens EADaily in a new tab)
- Kazakhstan's president appoints top adviser as vice president (opens The Straits Times in a new tab)
The Straits Times — is The Straits Times biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Kurultai Supported the Nomination of Bektenov as Prime Minister of Kazakhstan (opens Interfax.ru in a new tab)
Interfax.ru — is Interfax.ru biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Tokaev Nominated Bektenov for the Post of Prime Minister of Kazakhstan (opens vz.ru in a new tab)
Not rated
11- In Kazakhstan, the First Human Resources Appointments Since the Constitutional Reform Took Place (opens vedomosti.ru in a new tab)
vedomosti.ru — is vedomosti.ru biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Kazakhstan Returns to Vice-President 30 Years Later (opens Noticias ao Minuto in a new tab)
Noticias ao Minuto — is Noticias ao Minuto biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Who is Erlan Karin? Meet the Newly Appointed Vice President of Kazakhstan – Know His Age, Net Worth, Wife & More (opens The Sunday Guardian Live in a new tab)
The Sunday Guardian Live — is The Sunday Guardian Live biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Tokaev Has Appointed Erlan Karin as Vice-President (opens reform.news in a new tab)
reform.news — is reform.news biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Kazakhstan Appoints Erlan Karin Vice President - News Press Latina (opens prensa-latina.cu in a new tab)
prensa-latina.cu — is prensa-latina.cu biased? Our profile of this outlet
- New Appointments in Kazakhstan: Karin and Bektenov (opens Haberler in a new tab)
- Yerlan Karin Appointed Vice President of Kazakhstan (opens Газета.uz in a new tab)
- In Kazakhstan, the Vice-President and Prime Minister Were Elected (opens belta.by in a new tab)
Show 3 more
- Tokaev Made a Choice: Erlan Karin Became Vice-President of Kazakhstan (opens Life.ru in a new tab)
- Oljas Bektenov Was Reassigned to the Post of Prime Minister of Kazakhstan (opens centralasia.media in a new tab)
centralasia.media — is centralasia.media biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Tokaev Nominated Oljas Bektenov as Prime Minister (opens inbusiness.kz in a new tab)
inbusiness.kz — is inbusiness.kz biased? Our profile of this outlet
How did this read?
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