Ermūrat Seiıtqazyūly Bäpi ( , , ; born 7 March 1959) is a Kazakh politician and journalist who was the Chairman of

Nationwide Social Democratic Party The Nationwide Social Democratic Party (, JSDP; , OSDP), sometimes translated as the All-National Social Democratic Party, is a political party in Kazakhstan led by Ashat Raqymjanov. It was founded by a former presidential candidate and the Ma ...

(JSDP) from 26 April to 6 September 2019. He is the editor of the independent newspaper Tasjargan (Zhuma-Times and Aina Plus).

Biography

Early life and education

Bapi was born in the village of Qarabulaq in

East Kazakhstan Region East Kazakhstan Region (; ) is a region of Kazakhstan. It occupies the easternmost part of Kazakhstan, and includes parts of the Irtysh River, Lake Markakol, and Lake Zaysan. Its administrative center is Öskemen (also known as Ust'-Kamenogorsk ...

. In 1976, he was a correspondent of the Zaisan Regional newspaper. From 1977 to 1980, he served in the

Soviet Navy The Soviet Navy was the naval warfare Military, uniform service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy made up a large part of the Soviet Union's strategic planning in the event of a conflict with t ...

of Kamchatka Submarine Flotilla of the Red Banner Pacific Fleet, where he was a petty officer in reserve. In 1985, Bapi graduated from the

Al-Farabi Kazakh National University Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (), also called KazNU or KazGU, is a national research university located in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Named after philosopher and scholar al-Farabi, it is one of the country's largest universities. KazNU is Kaza ...

with a degree in journalism.

Career

After graduating, Bapi worked as correspondent, senior correspondent, head of the Department of the East Kazakhstan regional newspaper ''Kommunism tui (Didar)'', correspondent, senior correspondent of the newspaper ''Socialist Kazakhstan'' and ''

Egemen Qazaqstan ''Egemen Qazaqstan'' (, , ''Sovereign Kazakhstan'') is a government-owned Kazakh language newspaper published from Kazakhstan. It was first published on 17 December 1919. The newspaper was started by the Ministry of Information and Public Accord ...

''. From 1992 to 1995, he was the deputy general director of Qazaq Radiosy, head of the editorial office of Dustom and commercial programs Taikazan. From 1995, Bapi worked as the deputy head of the Press Service of the Government of Kazakhstan until he became the advisor to the President of the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan Akezhan Kazhegeldin in 1998. He then was the head of the publishing project DAT and the chief editor of the newspaper ''SolDAT.'' In April 2009, Bapi was jailed for 5 days after not paying large amounts of compensation to deputy

Romin Madinov Romin Rizuly Madinov (, ''Romin Rizūly Madinov'') (born 22 October 1961) is a Kazakh politician who served as a member of the Mazhilis from 1999 to 2016 and was a Chairman of the Agrarian Party from 1999 until it was merged with the Otan party i ...

for allegedly libeling him. Bapi accused the charges of being politically motivated. Bapi served as member of the Central Council of the movement

For a Just Kazakhstan For a Just Kazakhstan or For a Fair Kazakhstan (, ÄQÜ; ), was an electoral alliance that was founded by the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, the Naghyz Ak Zhol and the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan as an opposition coalition to nominate a singl ...

. He ran in the

2016 Kazakh legislative election Legislative elections were held in Kazakhstan on 20 March 2016. The date was set by president Nursultan Nazarbayev on 20 January 2016, when he dissolved the Mäjilis after it had requested dissolution on 13 January, with the reason cited being t ...

in the

(JSDP) party list which won no seats in the Mazhilis. On 22 April 2019, the JSDP nominated Bapi as candidate for the 2019 presidential elections. However on 26 April, after

Zharmakhan Tuyakbay Zharmakhan Aitbaiuly Tuyakbay (, , ; born 22 November 1947) is a retired Kazakh politician. He was the chairman of the Nationwide Social Democratic Party from 2007 to 2019 and prior to that, he served as the Mäjilis chairman from 1999 to 20 ...

stepped down from the post of the Chairman of JSDP, Bapi was unanimously chosen by the party's delegates to succeed Tuyakbay's role. It was also announced that the JSDP would refuse to participate in the election with Bapi calling for boycott. On 6 September 2019, at the 15th Extraordinary Congress of the JSDP, the party delegates expressed a vote of no confidence in Bapi, and as a result, he was removed the post as the party's chairman. The reason for removal was due to disapproval by the party members such as his trip to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in May, where Bapi met former PM Akezhan Kazhegeldin and the former Äkim of Atyrau Region Bergei Rysqaliev, who have been living in exile and convicted at home on charges in corruption while others saw no Bapi's ability to attract new members to the party. He was replaced by Ashat Raqymjanov as the party's new chairman. Former Chairman Tuyakbay called the party's move as "dirty and dastardly coup." On 8 October 2019, Bapi claimed that Rysqaliev was a "rightful owner" of the party.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bapi, Ermurat 1959 births Living people People from East Kazakhstan Region Al-Farabi Kazakh National University alumni Nationwide Social Democratic Party politicians Kazakhstani journalists 21st-century Kazakhstani politicians