INGUSHETIA ELECTS A NEW LEGISLATURE.

On March 1, Ingushetia began tabulating the results of elections for its Popular Assembly. The official results are to be announced this week, but Ingush President Ruslan Aushev already said that he is satisfied with the makeup of the new parliament. The newly elected legislature is supposed to examine three pieces of draft legislation, one on the republic’s budget, another on the congress of Ingushetian peoples and a third on reviewing deputies. This final draft law will become a stimulus for the newly elected deputies, who will serve for four years. According to Aushev, the parliament will be fully professional and the deputies will be held strictly accountable for their work.

Six members of the old parliament will sit in the new one. There is a new speaker, which has particularly pleased Aushev. The total number of deputies is twenty-one. Among them are three members of ethnic minorities: Two Chechens were elected to the new parliament and one Russian was appointed to the body through a decree issued by Aushev. According to the Ingush president, a special quota has been established for ethnic Russian parliamentary representation so that the Russian minority in the republic does not feel discriminated against. Aushev also said that if deputies do not work productively, he will use his right to dissolve the parliament (ORT, March 1).

There is little doubt that the new Ingush parliament will be as dependent on Ruslan Aushev as its predecessor was. In the tiny republic, whose population is less than 300,000, the president has become the absolute leader. There is no opposition in the republic, and the legislative and judicial branches are totally subordinated to Aushev.

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