Murtaza Rakhimov
Murtaza Rakhimov Gubaidullowitsch ( born February 7, 1934 in Tawakanowo, Rajon Kugartschi, Bashkir ASSR ) is a Russian- Bashkir politician. From December 1993 to July 2010 he was president of the Russian republic of Bashkortostan and ruled these last in his fourth term of office.
Life and political career
Rechimow went to Ufa at a vocational school for aspiring petroleum workers and was at the conclusion of an engineer at a state-owned oil refinery in Ufa. In parallel, he studied at the Petroleum Institute Ufa and graduated in 1964. In the follow-up years Rechimow continued to work at the refinery and in 1986 was finally the director.
The political career Rechimows began in 1989 when he was elected deputy of the Soviet of People's Deputies Congress. As one of the most ardent proponents of the political sovereignty of the republics, including Bashkortostan, he quickly grew in popularity and in 1990 was elected chairman of the upper house of Bashkortostan. During his tenure came in October 1990, the Agreement on the sovereignty of Bashkortostan into force on 31 March 1992, the Autonomous Republic of Bashkortostan was formed as a subject of the Russian Federation.
On December 12, 1993 Rechimow, was elected in the elections in Bashkortostan, which ran concurrently with the Russian Duma elections as the first President of the Republic of Bashkortostan. On 24 December of the same year the new constitution of the republic came into force, which provides for a five year term of office for the President of the Republic. On June 14, 1998 found again in Bashkortostan presidential elections, in which Rechimow was confirmed as the only approved candidate in office. The course of this election was widely criticized as undemocratic.
1999 Rechimow joined together with the Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov as a founding initiator of political organization Fatherland - All Russia (Russian Отечество - Вся Россия ), which emerged as the forerunner of the conservative United Russia party in the Duma elections in 1999 as the third strongest party. With the made on 1 December 2001 founding of the party Rechimow became a member of the Board of United Russia.
The new presidential elections in Bashkortostan, which ran on December 7, 2003 Rechimow missed the first ballot, an absolute majority, but was able to secure with the support of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the second ballot on 21 December a majority against the main rival Sergei Weremejenko.
After it arrived in the city of Blagoveshchensk in December 2004 for a series of major police raids with dozens of injured and arrested, inflamed in Bashkortostan massive opposition protests against Rechimow. In September 2006 Rechimow presented to President Putin of confidence and was subsequently proposed by this again in front of the Parliament of Bashkortostan Republic as President. On 10 October 2006 the Parliament Rechimow confirmed in office, which of these prematurely began his now fourth legislative period.
On July 15, 2010 Rechimow resigned before the end of the fourth term of office. According to press reports, the Kremlin had prepared the dismissal Rechimows. In June 2010, close to the government TV channel NTV showed a documentary in which Rechimow and his son Ural massive corruption and enrichment were accused at the expense of the state. Ural Rechimow withdrew its another term as a Member of Parliament Bashkir. In mid-July 2010, special units of the security forces have been moved to Bashkortostan, to prevent possible unrest at a deposition Rechimows.
Rechimow is married. His son, Ural Rechimow (* 1961), until 2010 member of the Republican Parliament of Bashkortostan and from 2005 to 2009, Director General of the oil company Bashneft.
Criticism
In his reign Rechimow looked increasingly violent regional and russia further criticism because he was accused of authoritarian rule. Already the second elections of the President of the Republic in 1998 were criticized by liberal forces to be illegal, among other things because two opposition candidates were not admitted despite a court order to vote. Rechimow was also accused in the 2003 elections to have gouged out his challenger Weremejenko using unfair election campaign methods in the second ballot. The reason that Rechimow was again proposed in 2006 by Putin despite opposition protests as president of Bashkortostan, suspect some political scientists the previous concessions Rechimows to the State Power: So he gave in 2005 to pressure from Moscow to and let the carried out in the 1990s, privatization of Bashkir oil company, which has been classified by the Russian Court as abusive 2003 undo.
In June 2009 Rechimow came again in the negative headlines after he had attacked the board of the United Russia party, whose member he is in an interview with the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets verbally and imputed to him organizational incompetence. Some high-ranking party members designated then the statements Rechimows as offensive and called for his expulsion from the party, which was however rejected by the Chairman Boris Gryzlov.