Translated material
Do it like Ramzan
The President of Ingushetia took United Russia away from a political rival
The President of Ingushetia, Murat Zyazikov, made a rapid party career in United Russia. Having joined the party just a month ago, on June 15, last Sunday he already headed its republican branch. The speed with which Mr. Zyazikov climbed the party ladder does not mean, however, that the ascent was easy.On June 16, literally the day after the president received his party card, a conference of the regional branch was held in Nazran, at which Mr. Zyazikov was supposed to be included in the Ingush political council of United Russia. The president himself was not at the meeting. When the counting commission began to sum up the results, it was discovered that only 20 out of 145 delegates voted for Murat Zyazikov. The head of the regional branch, Mukharbek Aushev, convincingly asked his party comrades to return to considering the issue, and as a result, on the second attempt, the president entered the political council.
A couple of days later, on June 18, the political council of United Russia met in Nazran, which was supposed to discuss the recommendation of the federal party leadership to appoint the president as head of the regional cell. The corresponding decision, however, was not made: the party members referred to the fact that they had not yet received a response to their request to the FSB as to whether citizen Zyazikov was an active employee of this organization. Let us remember that before being elected president, Murat Zyazikov worked in the state security agencies of Ingushetia, and then the Astrakhan region, where he received the rank of general. The voting was postponed until the certificate was received, which, of course, caused displeasure in Moscow: the Ingush political council was advised not to violate the party charter.
Some republican observers concluded that the president’s party difficulties stem from his conflict with the head of the Ingush “United Russia”Mukharbek Aushev, a State Duma deputy and entrepreneur who competed with Murat Zyazikov in the 2002 presidential elections . On July 11, it became known that Mukharbek Aushev had resigned: the position of leader of the regional branch became vacant. And on July 15, the regional conference of Ingush United Russia elected Mr. Zyazikov as the head of the department.
A number of observers believe that over the past month the administration of the President of Ingushetia has almost re-compiled party lists. However, the active membership of the Ingush “United Russia” is about 6 thousand people, and it was generally not necessary to completely rewrite its lists. Much more important for the correct outcome of Sunday's vote was the resignation of the former leader. “My entry into the United Russia political party was not dictated by a momentary message, but is a verified decision made from the position of, first of all, a statesman and a citizen of the Russian Federation,” the President of Ingushetia explained his suddenly manifested interest in party life. Until now, the head of the republic, following the example of the head of state, remained non-partisan, although he also called himself a “statesman.”
It is possible that the election of the “state” Murat Zyazikov as party leader will bring ideological benefits to the regional branch of United Russia. In addition, local observers believe that recently Mukharbek Aushev began to pay insufficient attention to party building, and the replacement turned out to be quite timely. The transfer of party leadership to the president seems to be an organic element of the concept of “party governors,” the promotion of which began last winter with another North Caucasian republic - Adygea.
It is also consistent with the political practice of neighboring Chechnya, where United Russia is headed by President Ramzan Kadyrov. In the summer of 2005, Mr. Kadyrov, by the way, also had to actually take away the party leadership from an influential and ambitious politician, former field commander Ruslan Yamadayev, who, like Mukharbek Aushev, sits in the State Duma.
But although the presidents of Chechnya and Ingushetia alike declare themselves “Putin’s people,” Mr. Kadyrov’s image successes clearly exceed those of Mr. Zyazikov. The Ingush president, although he does not claim, like his Chechen counterpart, a global expansion of powers, for a long time remained a consistent opponent of the initiatives of the plenipotentiary representative of the head of state in the Southern Federal District, Dmitry Kozak, regarding the introduction of external financial management in the poorest republics, to which, according to statistics, , refers to Ingushetia. The embassy also encountered many problems with the Ingush leadership in the process of resolving the consequences of the Ossetian-Ingush conflict, which the republic stubbornly refuses to consider resolved.
In terms of reporting on the fight against militants , Chechnya and Ingushetia seem to have switched roles: during the years of active hostilities, Ingushetia remained an island of peace on the edge of a war vortex, and now terrorist news more often comes from there. In early July, for example, a group of militants subjected rocket fire to the location of the 503rd regiment of internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation in the Ingush village of Troitskaya. The success of the security forces, who in mid-June of this year liquidated a field commander in Surkhakhi, the namesake of the first president of Ingushetia Ruslan Aushev, led to a protest meeting of the local population. And among those abducted by militants since March is the president’s uncle, Uruskhan Zyazikov. It is likely that efforts to free him may intensify after the replacement of the Minister of Internal Affairs - on July 7, Beslan Khamkhoev was replaced by his first deputy, Mussa Medov.
Ingush oppositionists suggest that the arrival of Murat Zyazikov in the party will negatively affect its image and the result of United Russia in the upcoming regional parliamentary and State Duma elections in December risks being lower than the previous one (in the 2003 Ingush parliamentary elections, United Russia received about 37% votes. -- Ed. ). Failure of the elections, from their point of view, would jeopardize the very existence of Ingushetia, which could be “merged” with Chechnya according to the Soviet model with the tacit consent of the leadership.
President Zyazikov, however, has repeatedly emphasized his commitment to the idea of independence for Ingushetia. Having headed the party, he probably, on the contrary, expects to provide it with a larger majority in future elections, and for himself, based on the results of these elections, a more reliable political future. In the end, the president hardly wants the same obstruction to occur at the next re-affirmation of his candidacy as at the June party conference. And the loyalty of parliament depends on how many and which deputies United Russia sends there. By the way, A Just Russia has also not been forgotten in terms of administrative preparation for the upcoming elections to the regional and federal parliaments: one of the leaders of the Ingush branch of A Just Russia, Mussa Yevloev, has been heading the republican electoral commission since May.