RRustam Minnikhanov promised to observe the ban on the heads of regions to be called presidents, the President of Tatarstan said that the voice of the region was not heard, but they will comply with the law. Tatarstan is the only region of Russia where the head is still called the president
Rustam Minnikhanov
The authorities of Tatarstan will implement the law prohibiting the heads of regions from being called presidents, but the republic regrets that they did not hear her opinion on this document. This was stated by the President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, whose words are quoted by RIA Novosti.
“The law has already been passed, the position of our parliament was known. It is clear that there are established historical things that are present. We should be able to listen to each other. <...It is clear that the law has been passed, and we are law-abiding people. But it so happened that our voice was not heard," Minnikhanov told reporters.
The head of the republic said that the Republican parliament expressed its position on the bill during its consideration by the State Duma. According to him, the authors of the bill were supposed to come to Tatarstan and discuss proposals with local parliamentarians.
“When it came to changing the Constitution, a commission was created. We discussed it, and it was a very positive experience. If the authors of this bill have visited our parliament, they explained that perhaps our position was different,”Tatarstan” quotes the words of Minnikhanov.
He stressed that the republic did not categorically oppose the entire law on public authority, which contains a provision on the name of the heads of regions. “There were just some points that we wanted to draw attention to,” the president said.
The law on the organization of public power in the subjects of Russia was signed by President Vladimir Putin on December 21, the State Duma adopted it on December 14. In particular, he prescribes to abandon the word “president” when naming heads of regions.
The document caused discontent in Tatarstan, the only region where the head is called the president. In the Republican parliament, the provisions of the bill were called contrary to the foundations of the constitutional system of Russia.
The special status of the authorities of Tatarstan was fixed in accordance with the agreement on the delimitation of powers between Russia and Tatarstan, concluded in 1994. However, in 2017, the contract expired, and the federal center did not renew it. Nevertheless, in 2017, the Kremlin agreed to keep the title of the post “president” in Tatarstan until 2020, whenthe term of office of the head of the region Rustam Minnikhanov expired. Then a high-ranking source in the presidential administration of Russia told Kommersant that the issue of changing the title of the position would be returned later, taking into account the proposals of the commission on the delimitation of powers between Moscow and Kazan. In 2020, Minnikhanov was re-elected to this post again.
The law also gives the right to the heads of regions to be elected more than twice in a row and enshrines the right of the president to remove the heads of the subjects of the Federation in connection with the loss of confidence. The document gives the regions the right to independently determine the maximum number of terms for which the head of the subject can be elected. A single term of office is also being introduced – five years. At the same time, the law states that only a Russian who does not have a residence permit or citizenship of another country can head the region.
According to the law, the names of regional executive authorities will also be brought to a single standard and will be called “government”.
The document comes into force from the date of its official publication, however, different terms are provided for its different provisions. In particular, articles on the names and powers of the heads of regions come into force from June 2022.
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