By Musa Musayev, exclusively to VK
On the eve of the presidential elections, important guests from Moscow have become frequent visitors to Dagestan. In mid-January ex-Minister of Finance Alexei Kudrin delivered a lecture entitled “The world economic crisis and Russia’s development prospects’ in Makhachkala. And just a few days ago the chairwoman of the Federation Council, Valentina Matviyenko, gave a pre-election press-conference in the Dagestani capital.
Matviyenko addressed the issue of growing discontent with the authorities in major Russian cities. “Every citizen has a constitutional right to express their opinions by participating in rallies. When they try to accuse the government of being totalitarian they don’t take into account the fact that people have an opportunity to take to the streets and express their opinion – it means that Russia has gone a long way on the path towards true democracy. This process has touched federal institutions and civil society. Of course, the authorities should maintain constant dialogue with the public – with the people living in all the regions. Moscow isn’t the whole of Russia. Other regions have different opinions. And the general desire of the Russian people is to have a normal stable life, they don’t want any shocks. It is normal when people express their discontent, but when certain politicians try to misuse this normal manifestation of civil opinion – we see it as an attempt to ‘rock the boat’. There are no grounds for an ‘orange revolution’ in Russia, so those who try to destabilize the situation will fail. The people won’t allow it. Every sensible person understands that neither Putin nor Medvedev have a magic wand to resolve all the problems Russia inherited from the Soviet era and from the turbulent 90s in the blink of an eye.
All sensible people understand that only stable economic development can ensure the amelioration of life, while any shocks and revolutions would throw us back. That is why all constructive forces in our country should maintain a dialogue. Today the demonstrators are not demanding an increase in salaries or pensions – and that means we are now at the next level of development. The government listens to civil society and demonstrates its intention to help the gradual development of civil society’s institutions. But such processes shouldn’t be hurried. Any actions that are not thought through can have devastating effects. That is why the authorities won’t make any harsh moves”.
As for the return to gubernatorial elections, Matviyenko said that today, when the general quality of life has risen considerably, people have different kinds of demands. “People want to participate in the governance of their country; they want to influence politics. It is a normal process in a democratic society. If the people have no say in the formation of regional government, that creates a distance between the people and the authorities. That is why the President introduced the bill on gubernatorial elections to the State Duma. I think it was the right decision. At the same time, the process shouldn’t become spontaneous. We should think how to prevent people connected to criminal elements from gaining power, or to prevent inexperienced people from occupying responsible positions. The bill will be discussed by experts, by representatives of the regional civic communities, etc. to make it most reasonable and efficient.”
The head of Dagestan, Magomedsalam Magomedov, supported this statement by Matviyenko. He said that the gubernatorial elections were cancelled because at the time there was the problem of preserving the unity of the state, but the system of appointing governors has its minuses as well as it has its pluses. However, in Dagestan direct gubernatorial elections have never been conducted, as this is the most multi-ethnic region of Russia. So the governor was elected by an electoral college of elected representatives of all ethnic groups. But the situation has changed for the better, so the President of the republic expressed his confidence in the possibility of direct elections in Dagestan.
