BRUSSELS - Following the resignation of Kazakhstan’s First President Nursultan Nazarbayev last March, the Central Asian republic will hold early elections on 9 June, to remove any ambiguity about the course of the country - including international commitments - through the legitimacy and strength that the open vote confers.

What is more, Kazakhstan finds itself in the midst of a sustained diplomatic outreach, under its strategy of equidistant multilateralism, to balance out oft-conflicting big...