CHECHNYA 12 October 2008 Chechens elect new parliament

Chechnya holds an election for a restructured parliament on Oct 12. Unicameral instead of bicameral, it will have 41 seats instead of 61. Prague Watchdog, which reports on Caucusus issues, sees little potential difference in the power structure after the election. The publication predicts few Chechens will bother to vote. The new body is expected to be dominated again by the Chechen branch of the United Russia Party. Youthful Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, handpicked by then-Russian president Vladimir Putin, leads the party.

Issues such as self-determination for ethnic minorities, national sovereignty and territorial integrity are unlikely to feature in the campaign platforms of the candidates: relative peace in the region and economic recovery are said to be dampening these broader impulses. Chechens with lingering separatist sentiments could be encouraged to try again along the way, and this time they have the South Ossetia/Abkhazia precedent to throw back in Russia's face.

The changes to the legislature are promoted as a way to strengthen the vertical of power in Chechnya, as well as bring the legislative branch of power in the Chechen Republic into conformity with other regions of Russia where regional parliaments have only one chamber.

To date, 347 candidates from the seven political parties -- "Zhirinovskyites,” Communists, Fair Russia, the Party of Peace and Unity, Patriots of Russia and the People's Union -- have registered to compete.

The self-dissolved bicameral legislature was elected on 27 Nov 2005. Sep/08

RELATED READING:

A mosque for bikers (Prague Watchdog 17 Sep 2008)
http://www.watchdog.cz/?show=000000-000004-000001-000240&lang=1

How Moscow's hard man changed the face of Grozny (Independent 11 Sep 2008)
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/how-moscows-hard-man-changed-the-face-of-grozny-925588.html

Timeline Chechnya: BBC (12 Mar 2008)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/country_profiles/2357267.stm