n his annual address to both chambers of Kazakhstan\'s parliament, Nursultan Nazarbaev expressed his support on 29 April for some parliamentarians\' proposal that a political party must collect the signatures of not less than 10 percent of the country\'s 14.8 million population in order to register. Nazarbaev also advocated increasing the powers of local administration officials on the grounds that there is what he termed \"a certain vacuum of power\" at the local level. He said that by the end of 2002 plans will be completed to introduce jury trials, and called for \"serious study\" of the possibility of imposing a moratorium on the death penalty. He also called on the legislature to legalize ownership of agricultural land, which he said would help to revive depressed rural areas. Kazakhstan enacted legislation in December 2000 that provided for the long-term leasing, but not the private ownership, of agricultural land. (Interfax)