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Chechnya Won’t be Sovereign Under New Constitution
The referendum to amend Chechnya’s Constitution will be held before the end of this year, Ismail Baikhanov, head of Chechnya’s Election Commission, said Saturday. The forecast is that, after the referendum, Chechnya will hold no direct presidential elections and its two-house parliament will turn into a single house authority. Under the new Constitution, Chechnya won’t be deemed the sovereign state any longer.
It was Chechnya’s President Ramzan Kadyrov that publicly suggested amending the Constitution past week. “I think the Constitution of the republic should be adjusted to federal law with all existing contradictions eliminated.” At the same time, Kadyrov urged legislators to pass bills “with regard to Chechnya’s peculiarities.” He didn't specify, however, what exact national peculiarities he actually meant.
The new legislation on Chechnya’s Constitution will entail crucial changes for the parliament of the republic, turning it from a two-house body into a parliament of single house elected under the party lists, said Chechen People's Assembly Speaker Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov.
Another difference of vital importance will be crossing out the provision for all-nation election of president. But the actual sensation could be stripping the Constitution of mentioning the status of state sovereignty for Chechnya. The wording of sovereignty, Abdurakhmanov said, is of no practical matter and excluding this term will be without serious consequences.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 19, 2007
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