Exam Gubaidullin intends to work in the Central Election Commission of Tatarstan “on a permanent basis”

Yesterday, the most likely candidate for the post of chairman of the new Central Election Commission of Tatarstan became known. The Central Election Commission of Russia proposed introducing a member of the Federation Council from Tatarstan, Ekzam Gubaidullin, into the Central Election Commission of the republic. He has already announced his intention to resign as a senator early in this regard. Observers call the likelihood of his election as head of the republican election commission “reinforced concrete.”

Yesterday, the Central Election Commission of Russia adopted a resolution in which it proposed to the leadership of Tatarstan to retain the Minister of Justice of Tatarstan Midkhat Kurmanov in the new composition of the republican Central Electoral Commission with the right to a decisive vote, and also to introduce a new figure into the commission - a member of the Federation Council from Tatarstan, Ekzam Gubaidullin.

The need to form a new Central Election Commission of Tatarstan is associated with the expiration of the powers of the current composition on September 17. As the Chairman of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Tatarstan, Anatoly Fomin, explained to Kommersant, the nomination of candidates ends on August 14, seven of whom must be approved by the State Council, another seven by the President of the Republic. He noted that the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation has the right to propose two candidates for consideration by the regional authorities. In addition to her, the council of the Sarmanovsky district of the republic - the head of the department of the district executive committee Bulat Akhmadullin, the city council of Naberezhnye Chelny - the deputy head of the executive committee Ramil Khalimov, the City Duma of Kazan - the deputy head of the organizational department of the municipality Olga Voronova - have nominated their representatives to the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Tatarstan. Today, according to Mr. Fomin, the Central Election Commission of Tatarstan itself will decide on candidates for the new composition. However, yesterday the chairman did not say who the commission was considering in this capacity. Anatoly Fomin also chose not to answer the question of whether he himself will remain a member of the republican Central Election Commission, which he has headed since March 2000. “Now, before the end of the nomination of candidates, it is impossible to talk about this,” he said.

Previously, Mr. Fomin was nominated to the CEC of Tatarstan by the CEC of Russia. However, instead of his name in yesterday's resolution of the Central Election Commission there is the name of Mr. Gubaidullin. Yesterday, the senator told the media about his intention to terminate his powers early. “I will resign as a member of the Federation Council and want to work in the commission on a permanent basis,” he said.

Let us note that according to the regulations of the Central Election Commission of Tatarstan, among its 14 members who have the right to cast a decisive vote, only three work on a permanent basis - the chairman, his deputy and the secretary. They are elected by the CEC members themselves by secret ballot. Moreover, the candidacy for the head of the regional Central Election Commission is proposed by the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation.

Observers are tipping 59-year-old Ekzam Gubaidullin for this position. Before working in the Federation Council (since April 2005), he headed the apparatus of the first President of Tatarstan, Mintimer Shaimiev, for seven years. “It is no coincidence that a figure of such magnitude - with such experience and status - was nominated to the new composition of the Central Election Commission of Tatarstan. The president will most likely support his candidacy - we will definitely see him on the Central Election Commission,” Azat Islaev, a member of the Central Election Commission of Tatarstan, told Kommersant. “The election of Ekzam Gubaidullin as chairman of the Central Election Commission seems to me to be reinforced concrete. Midhat Kurmanov seems to me not to be a strong enough figure to occupy this key place,” says public activist Oleg Belgorodsky. He believes that Anatoly Fomin’s powers as chairman will not be extended not so much due to his age (65 years old), but due to “major omissions” during the current presidential elections in the Russian Federation. Mr. Belgorodsky noted that the majority of almost 100 video recordings from Kazan polling stations viewed by activists indicate that “more than half of the chairmen and members of precinct commissions do not know the laws or do not know how to count votes” (Kommersant wrote on this topic on June 20) . “Even if this is not a deliberate falsification, the point is that the Central Election Commission failed to cope with the task of training PEC chairmen,” says the social activist.

Olga Kudrina

The senator heard voices