Photo: Yekaterina Shtukina/Russian government's press service/TASS

Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov was appointed chairman of the state security service on Thursday by President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Reuters reports.

No new cabinet head was named. Deputy Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev will serve as acting prime minister, according to the order published by Nazarbayev’s office.

Under the constitution, Nazarbayev will now need to propose a new prime minister to the lower house of parliament, which is dominated by his supporters.

Masimov has run the government since April 2014, his second stint as prime minister after heading the cabinet in 2007-2012.