DAGESTAN
Magomedov reelected amid growing violence and tension
On 25 June Dagestan's Constituent Assembly elected a State Council and reelected the incumbent State Council Chairman, Magomedali Magomedov. He received 162 of the 242 votes cast. (Interfax, 1049 GMT, 25 Jun 98; FBIS-SOV-98-176)
Members of the assembly voted under very tense circumstances. Interior ministry troops sealed off the center of Makhachkala where soldiers with machine guns and grenade launchers guarded the government buildings. (NTV, 0600 GMT, 25 Jun 98; FBIS-SOV-98-176) Since the attempted coup in May, explosions, assassinations, abductions and other acts of violence and terror have become increasingly frequent. In June alone, there were several attacks against military targets in Dagestan, including a helicopter division of the border troops, an OMON division and a military convoy. (Nezavisimaya gazeta, 25 Jun 98) (For more detail on the May coup attempt, see Editorial Digest, Vol. 3, No. 8.)
The Constituent Assembly is composed of deputies from Dagestan's legislature and representatives of local and regional governments. In accordance with the 1994 constitution, the process of choosing the highest republican executive authority is indirect and open to manipulation by the entrenched interests. Magomedov's critics charge that the existing system, managed through back room deals and intrigues, unfairly prohibits others from participating and perpetuates the corruption, poverty, and violence that has characterized Dagestani life in recent years. Various public figures, ranging from Nadir Khachilaev, the Duma deputy who led the May coup, to Ramazan Abdulatipov, the vice premier of the Russian government, have suggested that Dagestan would be better served by direct elections of a republican president. Some have conjectured that the two were working together. (Moskovskiye novosti, 24-31 May 98; FBIS-SOV-98-177)
Magomedov, a Dargin, has wielded political power in Dagestan since Soviet times and was elected chairman of the State Council in 1994. When his term expired in 1996 no elections were held due to the tensions and hardships caused by the war in neighboring Chechnya. As a result, Magomedov has governed for a term of four years although he was elected for only two years in 1994.
The constitution was amended on 19 March 1998 to make Magomedov's reelection possible. On that occasion the People's Assembly repealed Article 93 of the constitution which prohibited persons of the same nationality from occupying the position of State Council chairman for two consecutive terms. (See Magomedkhan Magomedkhanov, "Rents in the Fabric of Government," Perspective, Vol. 8, No. 4, March-April 1998.) The original intention was to rotate the highest executive position among the deputies of the 14 constituent nationalities represented on the State Council. That provision was an important component of the delicate power balance among the different nationalities of Dagestan. Its repeal brought closer the danger of inter-ethnic strife.
On the eve of the election Izvestia speculated that Magomedov would have been elected even under democratic procedures. The paper suggested that the majority of Dagestanis fear the militant tactics of the opposition more than they disapprove of the continuous decline of their republic under the existing leadership. That seems like a reasonable conclusion in view of all the violence that the republic has already endured and suggests that the refusal to hold national elections was extremely shortsighted. Little has been achieved other than the alienation of members of the opposition from the peaceful political process.