Tatarstan State Council adopts amendments to cancel incumbent head's right to be called president

KAZAN. Jan 26 (Interfax) - A package of amendments to the Tatarstan constitution, which deprives the incumbent head of republic of the right to be called president, passed by a majority of votes in its final reading at the Tatarstan State Council's meeting on Thursday, an Interfax correspondent reported from the meeting.

The amendments also repealed the Tatarstan constitution's provision on the citizenship of Tatarstan and the immunity of members of the Tatarstan parliament. In addition, the parliament and the head of Tatarstan lose the right to confirm the appointment of the Tatarstan prosecutor.

The amendment to the Tatarstan constitution, which was adopted in December 2022 and renamed the head of Tatarstan from president to head - rais of the Republic of Tatarstan, envisaged a transitional period and said that the new title would be applicable only to the next elected head of Tatarstan. Meanwhile, the incumbent head of region, Rustam Minnikhanov, was supposed to be called 'president' until the end of his term of office in 2025.

"Following additional consultations on the title of the top-ranking official, it was decided to scrap the transitional period and to start applying the new title of the top-ranking official once the bill discussed here today takes effect," Albert Khabibullin, chairman of the Tatarstan Parliament Committee on State Building and Local Self-Government, told deputies on Thursday.

In his words, the package of amendments to the Tatarstan constitution has been submitted to the parliament by nearly half of its members.