Residents of the Kazakh capital supported the proposal to return the city's name Astana, according to a broadcast of a public hearing that was broadcast on social media by the maslikhat (local representative body of power).

City officials this week asked voters to voice their opinion on the renaming of the capital city. Nur-Sultan residents and members of the public took part in the hearings. For example, Burkitbay Ayagan, deputy director of the Institute of State History, said the role of the first president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, in the establishment of Kazakhstan was invaluable, but renaming the capital in his honor proved hasty.

According to Maslikhat Secretary Yerlan Kanalimov, the new renaming of the city will cost much less than it did three years ago, when Astana became Nur-Sultan. He explained that in 2019, the mayor's office spent about 30 million tenge (more than $63,000) on changing signs, letterheads and seals, but this year's costs will be much lower, given the transition to digital document management.

The capital of Kazakhstan became Nur-Sultan in March 2019. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who succeeded the first president Nursultan Nazarbayev, who resigned, came up with the idea of renaming. On the same day, the parliament adopted relevant amendments to the constitution.