Kalimatov Calls on Ingush People to Ignore Boycott Calls and Vote in Municipal Elections

Paul Goble

            Staunton, September 7 – Makhmud-Ali Kalimatov, acting head of Ingushetia, says the Ingush people must ignore calls for a boycott of municipal elections lest by not voting they reduce the sense of responsibility that deputies must always show to the population (ingushetia.ru/news/m_kalimatov_prizval_zhiteley_ingushetii_prinyat_aktivnoe_uchastie_v_munitsipalnykh_vyborakh_/).

            At a special meeting the day before the elections are slated to take place, Kalimatov says that “for the effectiveness of the deputy corps we in part also bear responsibility. We vote for them, we entrust them with the power of the people by delegating authority to them to take decisions for us.”

            “I know,” he continues, “that there are people who not only are inclined themselves to ignore their own voting rights but are calling on others to do the same.  I consider that such actions can transform the elections into a formal procedure.” There is no basis for their arguments.

            Indeed, Kalimatov says, “in the extreme case, elections give people the chance to express their disagreement with the entire list of candidates.”

            Meanwhile, the authorities shifted oppositionist Zarifa Sautiyeva from Nalchik to Essentuki in Stavropol Kray for a hearing next week on extending her detention for a further two months (amanho.com/?p=12311), yet another case of the authorities shifting prisoners out of their home areas to make their defense more difficult (kavkaz-uzel.eu/blogs/83787/posts/39491).