The Ingush opposition has chosen the tactic of boycotting the vote on the constitutional amendments proposed by Putin, as it did in previous elections during the so-called «elections». This time, the decision to boycott was made by the informal Ingush parliament — the Council of Teips of Ingushetia. In March, representatives of the Ozdoev, Bekov, Gagiev and Khalukhaev teips, which account for more than 20% of the republic’s population, made this decision, and in June it was supported by representatives of the Leimoy teip. In their statement, the latter called the introduction of Putin’s amendments «not only an oppression of the people, but also a desecration of the constitutions of Ingushetia and Russia».
As a result, even the official turnout in Ingushetia was the lowest among the North Caucasus republics. On June 29, while voter turnout in other republics ranged from 57.27 percent in Dagestan to 72.97 percent in Chechnya, Ingushetia’s turnout was less than half that, at 45.6 percent.
Today, for the sake of appearances, it was artificially raised to 50.1% — it could not be lower, and going higher would be absurd, especially considering that, according to comments on social media, the actual number of participants in this farce was ten times smaller.
In general, such disregard of the Ingush people for the farce staged by the Kremlin and its local puppets reflects the general alienation between them. An illustrative example of this alienation is the story of the new head of the republic’s bailiff service, Maxim Shatiny, about whom we wrote earlier. Immediately after his appointment, this colonial official declared that men with beards and women wearing hijabs should not work in his department.
Despite the public outcry, Shatiny was not only not fired, he was not even reprimanded. As a result, according to Ingush bloggers, he now comes to work drunk and in shorts, confiscates the prayer room from women and promises to confiscate it from men, and repeats with the same fanaticism that religion has no place in his department. Well, this power vividly demonstrates the value of its amendments regarding «faith in God», supposedly protected in Putin’s Russia. In Ingushetia, according to available information, the majority already understands the insignificance of this and other declarations. The other regions are next…
UPDATE: By the end of the day, data was published showing that voter turnout in the republic has already reached 60%+.