Nursultan Nazarbaev on 10 March appointed Imanghali Tasmaghambetov head of the presidential administration. The move comes amid a general reshuffling that has seen Nazarbaev loyalist Nurtay Abyqaev, former head of the presidential administration, become the speaker of the Senate, and Oralbay Abdykarymov, former speaker of the Senate, become Kazakhstan\'s state secretary. Tasmaghambetov has served as state secretary since June 2003. The 47-year-old Tasmaghambetov was also prime minister in 2002-03. The 59-year-old Abdykarymov was speaker of the Senate since December 1999. The weekly \"Republika Assandi Times\" on 27 February predicted that Nazarbaev would soon initiate a major staff reshuffle, from which Abyqaev and first deputy presidential administration head Marat Tazhin would benefit. The paper further suggested that Nazarbaev might try to wrong-foot the opposition by bringing forward to the late spring the parliamentary elections scheduled for this fall. (RFE/RL)