Translated material
Thinks small
The court of the Ust-Orda Buryat Autonomous Okrug rejected the claim of an opponent of regional consolidation
The court of the Ust-Orda Buryat Autonomous Okrug (UBAO) recognized the legality of the resolution adopted by the Duma of the autonomy to set the date for the referendum on the issue of unification of the Irkutsk region and UOBAO and rejected the claim of opponents of the merger.However, the oppositionists were not at all upset, and their leader, Duma deputy of the village of Ust-Ordynsky Valery Alekseev, even stated that he would not protest the court’s decision, since he now has no doubt that the unification will not bring harm to Ust-Orda.
On March 17, Valery Alekseev filed a lawsuit in which he demanded to cancel the decision of the district Duma to set the date for the referendum due to the fact that the issue put to the vote does not comply with the electoral legislation. Let us remind you that on April 16, residents of the Angara region and the autonomy will have to answer the question: “Do you agree that the Irkutsk region and UOBAO unite into a new subject of the Russian Federation - the Irkutsk region, within which UOBAO will be an administrative-territorial unit with a special status determined by the charter of the new subject of the Russian Federation in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation? Valery Alekseev said that the question involves a double interpretation. The concept of “special status” used in the question, he stated, has “non-specific legal consequences.”
Earlier, Vyacheslav Plahotniuc, a member of the election commission of the Irkutsk region, also warned about the incorrectness of the formulated question. It is assumed that the “special status” will ensure mandatory representation of the autonomy in the parliament of the future subject, the establishment of an executive body, as well as the preservation of the existing boundaries of municipalities. Mr. Plahotniuc said that the thesis about the special representation of the district in parliament must be brought into line with the norms of the electoral legislation, which provides for the equality of electoral districts in size.
However, during the Ust-Horda trial, it turned out that in fact, the legal assessment of the issue put forward for a unification referendum in accordance with the federal constitutional law “On the procedure for admitting into the Russian Federation and forming a new subject of the Russian Federation within it” is given by the Russian president when he signs the unification initiative of the heads of regions. The appeal from the governor of the Irkutsk region, Alexander Tishanin, and the head of the UOBAO, Valery Maleev, was signed by Vladimir Putin on December 12 last year. In addition, as Valery Alekseev said, at the trial, representatives of the Duma and the district administration presented documents “that contain quite convincing arguments, and it is very strange why they are not made public.”
Thus, the plaintiff noted, during the meeting it was stated that if the President of Russia supported the initiative of the heads of the two regions to unify, then the draft federal constitutional law on the formation of the united Irkutsk region would include the points that are contained in the annex to the appeal of Alexander Tishanin and Valery Maleev. According to this document, as a result of the merger, UOBAO will receive 1.5 billion rubles. for the implementation of the investment program. “These are very good points, I liked them, and if I had known about the existence of such documents earlier, I would have acted differently,” said Valery Alekseev. He also stressed that he was unlikely to continue his anti-unification activities.
At the same time, a source of Vremya Novostey, closely familiar with the situation in the district, explained Mr. Alekseev’s extraordinary accommodating behavior by the fact that “he has his own business in Ust-Ordynsky” (Valery Alekseev is the general director of Server LLC). “I think they explained to him that he might have problems with various services,” the newspaper’s interlocutor suggested.
Thus, now opponents of the unification of the Irkutsk region and UOBAO are concentrated around the Buryat Regional Center for Young Scientists, who are confident that the liquidation of Ust-Orda as a subject of the federation is a blow to the entire Buryat population of Russia.