Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev pledged on Friday to remain in office as long as his health allows him to. "I have received a signal from the people - don`t leave office, continue working. If my health allows me, if I have the people`s support, I will work as long as I am allowed to," Nazarbayev, 70, said on Friday during his annual address to parliament. Earlier in the month, the Kazakh legislature voted unanimously in favor of holding a referendum to extend the rule of long-serving Nazarbayev until 2020, bypassing elections due in 2012. Nazarbayev, who has ruled the Central Asian state since the collapse of the Soviet Union, vetoed parliament`s original call for a referendum, but the recent vote overrode his objections. The EU has condemned plans for the referendum, saying this would go against Kazakhstan`s commitment to democracy. It also urged Kazakhstan, which held the OSCE`s rotating presidency in 2010, to "continue to strive for regular, free and fair elections in line with its constitution and OSCE commitments." A group of Kazakh non-governmental organizations has made a public appeal for Nazarbayev to go ahead with the 2012 elections. In June, the title of "Leader of the Nation" was bestowed upon Nazarbayev by his country`s lawmakers. The title gives him a wide range of privileges after the expiry of his presidential term. The referendum on extending Nazarbayev`s presidential term would be the second such case. In 1995, his term, due to expire that year, was extended until December 2000.