Local Power and Post-Soviet Politics by Theodore H Friedgut & Jeffrey W Hahn

Author:Theodore H Friedgut & Jeffrey W Hahn [Friedgut, Theodore H & Hahn, Jeffrey W]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Parties, Political Science, Political Process, General
ISBN: 9781315286914
Google: j4oYDQAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 32205967
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2016-09-16T00:00:00+00:00

Introducing the New Administrations in Omsk

The Oblast

After the failed coup, as the Soviet Union vanished from the political map, politics in Omsk were marked by increased activity directed toward establishing political and administrative order. The first move came when Yeltsin appointed Aleksandr Minzhurenko as presidential representative to Omsk in September 1991. Minzhurenko was then a deputy in the soon to be abolished USSR Congress of People’s Deputies. He had worked previously as an instructor at the Omsk Pedagogical Institute, and had risen to local prominence during the election campaign of 1989. During the August coup, Minzhurenko had led small public street meetings, and had formed the Committee for the Defense of Legal Organs of Power. Minzhurenko’s new duties were to function as the president’s “eyes and ears” in the oblast, informing Yeltsin on the fulfillment of central laws and decrees, and assisting the federal executive in establishing political power and authority throughout the oblast.

The most significant move in establishing such executive power was the president’s decision to delay elections for local executives—initially for one year, and then later until 1995—and instead appoint the heads of oblast administration by presidential ukaz. The oblast-level executives would then appoint lower-level executives in agreement with the corresponding soviets, and allow these executives to appoint subordinate executives in turn.13 Defending this decision, Minzhurenko stated that he himself “was a democrat through and through,” but that he had become convinced that direct appointment was the only real solution to the current dilemma of executive power. Elections, simply put, were too risky. They would lead to conservative local executives that would cause a fractured executive along the vertical axis. He pointed out that almost all rural areas in the oblast were staunchly conservative, and that a third of the city would also support a conservative candidate. The democrats in the oblast would thus have poor chances of winning a general election. Direct appointments, on the other hand, would establish a stronger system of executive power throughout the country, and would place local executives on a “short leash,” which would compel local administrators to support and implement presidential decrees. Given the need for radical economic and political reform, Minzhurenko suggested that no other alternative was available.14

Minzhurenko had asked the local democratic movement to advance a candidate for glava administratsii of the oblast, but none was forthcoming. The name of Vladimir Ispravnikov had been raised, but the Russian deputy representing Omsk in the Russian parliament had already agreed to join Khasbulatov’s parliamentary team. Yeltsin wanted to make the appointment quickly, and Minzhurenko was pressured to come up with a recommendation. He felt that he had two choices: either the chair of the oblast soviet, Anatolii Leont'ev, or the chair of the oblispolkom (oblast executive committee), Leonid Polezhaev. He justified his decision by claiming that “one does not change horses midstream,” and that some professional experience was mandatory. While Leont'ev had served as chairman of the oblast executive committee for many years prior to his election to the soviet in

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