On Thursday, December 22, the Tatarstan State Council Committee on State Construction and Local Self-Government suggested withdraw the draft amendments to the regional constitution, which provided for the renaming of the position of the head of the republic.
The draft amendment to the Tatarstan constitution was published on 21 December. In particular, he proposes to replace the words “President of the Republic of Tatarstan” with the words “President of the Republic of Tatarstan”.
Albert Khabibullin, chairman of the state-building committee of the State Council of the Republic, decided to vote, “Suggest that the initiative group repeal this draft law in the edition submitted.” The reporter reported that most of the lawmakers supported him. TASS.
As announced at the Regional Council of State, deputies noted that the bill “does not reflect the possibility of naming the position of the president taking into account historical and national characteristics.” At the same time, such an opportunity is provided by the Federal Law of December 21, 2021 “On the General Principles of Organization of Public Power in Matters of the Russian Federation”. However, this was not taken into account in the revised version.
Only in Tatarstan – one of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation – the word “president” is still retained in the title of the head of the republic.
Recall that exactly a year ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on the organization of public authorities in the regions, specifically prohibiting the use of the word “president” in the title of the head of the region.
The law also established a single term of office for heads of subjects and lifted the ban on holding that office for more than two consecutive terms.
After the bill was presented to the State Duma, Tatarstan officials openly opposed the initiative – Khabibullin mentioned it in December 2021. He then suggested that the deputies of the regional legislature not discuss this bill until it was discussed at the first reading in the State Duma, and that Tatarstan deputies in the lower house of the Russian parliament would eventually vote against it.
In the 1990s, many regional presidents were called presidents. The presidents of Mari El were in Mordovia, Yakutia, Chechnya, Udmurtia, Adygea, Kabardino-Balkaria, Tuva, Ingushetia, Kalmykia, Dagestan, Bashkiria and Tatarstan.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov initiated the renaming process of the heads of the republic, he recalls. “Lenta.ru”.
“He didn’t want to be called president and urged his colleagues to follow his example. As a result, the positions of the leaders of all republics in Russia were renamed, with the exception of the president of Tatarstan, who is now Rustam Minnikhanov, ”says the publication.
The question of the name of the leader of the republic was repeatedly raised, but so far Tatarstan has managed to defend the name of the post. At the end of 2010, the State Duma passed amendments prohibiting the federation’s subject heads from being called presidents. However, the region managed to circumvent this norm, taking advantage of the fact that at that time there was an agreement with the federal center on the limitation of powers. In 2015, Putin declared that the people of Tatarstan should “choose the name of the presidential office themselves.”