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Tomorrow Ramzan Kadyrov will become Chechnya's President

By Umalt Chadayev

CHECHNYA – On March 2 an event that has been talked about for the past few months will take place. Ramzan Kadyrov will officially become the leader of Chechnya.

Russia’s President Putin announced today that he intends to propose the candidacy of Ramzan Kadyrov for the post of President of Chechnya to replace President Alu Alkhanov, who resigned two weeks ago. Hardly anyone in Chechnya was in any doubt that Kadyrov would become the republic’s new leader.

"Tomorrow the Chechen parliament will very probably confirm Kadyrov in the post.  I’m absolutely certain that nearly all our ‘servants of the people’ will vote ‘yes’, I have no doubt of it. What’s more, everyone knew that Ramzan (Kadyrov) was going to be the republic’s new leader at least several months before Alkhanov resigned,’ says a local political analyst.

"After Alkhanov’s resignation, Kozak (President Putin’s special envoy) arrived and apparently held meetings with parliamentary deputies, representatives of public bodies, and so on, after which he was offered three candidates for the next presidency: Ramzan Kadyrov, Shakhid Dzhamaldayev and Muslim Khuchiyev. These last two are middle-ranking officials – subordinates of Ramzan –  and it was clear right from the outset that the nomination of candidates was a purely formal step intended to designate someone as the ‘official’ choice,” the analyst says.

On March 2 Ramzan Kadyrov’s candidacy will be examined by a Chechen parliament  in which 33 out of the 58 seats are held by members of the regional  branch of the United Russia party. The party’s regional branch is headed by Ramzan Kadyrov. In addition, the speaker of the parliament’s National Assembly has family connections with the current acting president. Several other close relatives of Kadyrov are members of the parliament.

The likelihood that Ramzan Kadyrov would replace Alu Alkhanov as head of the Chechen Republic was already being discussed in the autumn of last year, when Kadyrov turned 30. At that age, according to the Chechen Constitution adopted in March 2003, a Chechen citizen becomes eligible to occupy the post of president.

The 2003 Constitution also stipulated that the republic’s president shall be chosen by a nation-wide poll of electors  When, after the events at Beslan, the Russian president ended the direct elections of Russia’s regional governors, this step was somehow forgotten in Chechnya. Last year the Chechens parliament held a number of sessions during which the issues of bringing the republic’s constitution into line with the constitution of the Russian Federation were examined –  but no changes to the Constitution have so far been introduced. In this respect, Chechen law is at variance with federal law. However, federal legislation dictates that if local laws contradict federal ones, they are automatically guided by the latter. So all the recent developments are taking place within the framework of federal legislation.

"Tomorrow will see a consolidation of the reality that presently exists in Chechnya. Ramzan Kadyrov will be made sole master of the republic. However, it’s not yet quite clear what the result of this will be,” the political analyst believes. “Kadyrov Junior has the support of Vladimir Putin, but Putin is due to leave his post next year. No one knows if the next master of the Kremlin will be as well-disposed towards Ramzan. But it’s an indisputable fact that in Moscow Kadyrov has both allies and sworn enemies.”

The news of Alu Alkhanov’s resignation and the appointment of Prime Minister Kadyrov as acting president were greeted in Chechnya by disorderly scenes in nearly all of the republic’s major cities, where members of the law enforcement agencies fired their weapons in the air and so-called “spontaneous”  popular festivities were held. Local residents say that tomorrow they expect “celebrations" on a scale that is no less grand.

Our correspondent Ruslan Isayev contributed to this report.

(MD)

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