Tatarstan has decided on the last president

Deputies of Tatarstan on Friday made changes to the constitution of the republic, abolishing the name “president of Tatarstan.” Now the future head of the region will be called the head of the republic and rais (an Arabic word meaning “chief”). However, the incumbent president Rustam Minnikhanov will continue to be called president until the end of his term, which expires only in 2025. Not all deputies initially agreed with such a “compromise” decision, but after the speeches of Mr. Minnikhanov and the first president of the republic, Mintimer Shaimiev, the majority supported the amendments. Both the former and the current heads of the republic urged that no one should think that Tatarstan had rebelled under the conditions of a special military operation (SVO).

82 out of 100 deputies took part in the meeting of the State Council on Friday. The issue of changing the basic law of the republic was not initially included in the agenda, and the day before, the State Construction Committee even recommended that the authors of similar amendments from among the deputies withdraw them. However, Kommersant’s interlocutor in the leadership of the State Council assured that the issue of the constitution “we will decide tomorrow.”

As a result, a new draft of amendments was submitted to the meeting on behalf of the Presidium of the State Council, which is headed by Speaker Farid Mukhametshin. The deputies included this issue on the agenda by a majority of votes and considered it first.

The head of the profile committee, Albert Khabibullin (United Russia), explained that the previous draft of the amendments did not provide for any additional name for the head of the republic in addition to the “head of Tatarstan.” In the new project, “rais” was proposed as such an additional name (translated from Arabic as “chairman, chief”, but this word is also used in the Tatar language). Thus, in the future, Tatarstan will be governed by the “head – rais of the Republic of Tatarstan” or simply rais for short. According to the authors of the project, this takes into account the “cultural characteristics of the republic.”

The bill also contains a “transitional provision”, according to which the current president of Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov, will retain the current name of his position until the new elections of the head of the republic, which are scheduled to take place in 2025. Rustam Minnikhanov “was elected as president,” and the citizens “voted for him as a presidential candidate,” Khabibullin explained.

The amendments predictably caused an hour and a half discussion among the deputies. Why don’t you like the word “president”? “Rais” is an Arabic word. I am against renaming the post of president,” protested United Russia (ER) deputy and chairman of the Union of Writers of Tatarstan Rkail Zaydullin. And if we change the name, it is better to choose “il bashi” (head of the country, region), the deputy said.

“Russia is not a unitary, but a federal state. But the federal center treats all 89 regions with the same brush,” said the head of the committee on law and order, Shakir Yagudin (“United Russia”), indignantly.

The oldest member of the State Council, Marat Galeev, proposed a compromise: to call him “head” in Russian, but keep the name “president” in the Tatar version.

His colleague, the head of the TV and radio company “Tatarstan – a new century” Ilshat Aminov (ER) said that a compromise is impossible for him. According to him, there have already been many of them, but “the constitution is not a piece of paper, it is the will of the people.” The deputy believes that “there is no guarantee” that in the future the republic will not be abolished at all, united with other regions. “We are not defending words here, we are defending federalism here. I love my motherland, I am ready to die for it. But federalism is the only way for this great country to exist,” the deputy concluded, promising to “vote with his heart.”

Hafiz Mirgalimov, the head of the Communist Party faction, also supported the preservation of the post of president: “The draft resolution proposes to keep it for another two or three years. But the republic will not exist for two or three years!” he protested. Nikolai Rybushkin, a member of the “Tatarstan – New Century” deputy group, suggested “ask the people”.

Finally, Rustam Minnikhanov himself came out to the podium, having previously remained silent. He tried, as it were, to reconcile the deputies with the federal center, recalling that “we could elect the president of the republic for two terms,” ​​although “we had many opponents, and very solid ones.” He admitted that his “efforts were not enough” for the republic to continue to decide on its own how to call the highest official, but suggested acting “not by protest”, but by “legislative means.” “The door is not completely closed,” he encouraged the deputies. “It doesn’t always happen the way you want,” he noted, however, and recalled that now “a special operation is underway.” “Here, Tatarstan has risen, not everything is fine with Putin, Russia will be broken into pieces,” he warned, how they might perceive the demarche of deputies.

The first president of Tatarstan, Mintimer Shaimiev, slowly walked to the podium. “First I’ll drink,” he told the deputies and, opening a bottle of water, began to drink from his throat. The ex-president delivered a half-hour speech, recalling the history of this “difficult” issue and how the republic had been trying to defend the title of “president” for many years, and in the end concluded that in the conditions of “military operations” the republic must “find a compromise with the federal center.” The name “chapter – rais” seemed quite “normal” to him. “Now we need unity. The unity of the Russian Federation is at the head,” Mintimer Shaimiev urged and promised that “Tatarstan, as they say, will not become weaker.”

“In this situation, we cannot afford not to harmonize, to confront the federal center under the conditions of a special operation,” Farid Mukhametshin, speaker of the State Council of Tatarstan, noted, although he admitted that he was “sorry” to refuse the title “president”.

As a result, in the first reading, the amendments to the constitution of Tatarstan were supported by 78 deputies and only three voted against. By the second reading (which took place less than an hour after the first), no additional amendments were received from the deputies. In the final reading, 79 people voted in favor of changing the constitution, two opposed.

Kirill Antonov, Kazan