Head of Tatarstan

The Head of the Republic of Tatarstan (Russian: Глава Республики Татарстан; Tatar: Татарстан Республикасы Рәисе, romanized: Tatarstan Respublikası Räise), formerly known as the President of the Republic of Tatarstan (1991–2023, Tatar: Татарстан Президенты, romanized: Tatarstan Prezidenty), is the head of the republic and the highest-ranking official of Tatarstan, a federal subject of Russia. The office was established in 1991.

Head of the Republic of Tatarstan
Татарстан Республикасы Рәисе (Tatar) Глава Республики Татарстан (Russian)
Standard of the head of the republic
Incumbent Rustam Minnikhanov since 25 March 2010
Executive branch of the Republic of Tatarstan
Style	His Excellency The Honorable
Type	Governor Head of state Head of government
Residence	Kazan Kremlin
Nominator	Political parties
Appointer	Direct elections
Term length	5 years
Formation	12 June 1991
First holder	Mintimer Shaimiev
Website	Official website

Title

In 2017, following the expiration of the 1994 agreement between Moscow and Kazan which granted Tatarstan substantial autonomy, the title of president was expected to be replaced with head, as it was done with other republics in Russia.^[1] The government of Tatarstan however resisted attempts to have the title abolished and the federal government declined to press the issue.^[2]

However, shortly after legislative elections in September 2021, deputies in the State Duma prepared a bill to unify the titles of the leaders of all of Russia's regions to head.^[3] The bill, seen as directly aimed at Tatarstan, would reserve the title of president exclusively for the president of Russia.^[4] In response, lawmakers in Tatarstan's State Council voted against it.^[5] The bill was approved in its first reading in November.^[6] On 15 December, it was approved by the Federation Council and subsequently signed by president Vladimir Putin on 21 December.^[7]

The law went into effect on 1 June 2022.^[8] Tatarstan's presidential secretary said that the title would remain during a transitional period throughout 2022 where the constitution was to be amended.^[9] The renaming of the post was expected to be completed by 2023.^[10] The loss of the title was perceived by many in Tatarstan as a further erosion of their autonomy within Russia.^[11]

In December 2022, regional lawmakers voted to change the title of the head of the republic from president to rais (an Arabic title for "leader"). The title of president was seen as the last remaining symbol of federalism following the centralization reforms under Vladimir Putin.^[12] Incumbent president Rustam Minnikhanov however would have retained the title of president until his term expired in 2025 under transitional agreements.^[13] On 26 January 2023 Minnikhanov signed the amendments into law; however, the proposed transitional period was abandoned, forcing the title change to occur by 6 February.^[14]

List of presidents

No.	Portrait	Name (born–died)	Term of office			Political party		Elected	Ref.
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Mintimer Shaimiev (born 1937)	4 July 1991	25 March 2010	18 years, 264 days		Independent	1991
							Fatherland – All Russia	1996	[15]
							United Russia	2001 2005
2		Rustam Minnikhanov (born 1957)	25 March 2010	Incumbent	14 years, 177 days		United Russia	– 2015 2020	[16][17]

Latest election

The latest election for the office was held on 13 September 2020.^[18]

Candidates	Party	Votes	%
Rustam Minnikhanov	United Russia	1,930,355	83.27
Almir Mikheyev	A Just Russia	114,309	4.93
Alfred Valiyev	Communists of Russia	107,501	4.64
Oleg Korobchenko	Party of Growth	82,959	3.58
Vladimir Surchilov	LDPR	65,947	2.84

References

1. Kozlov, Peter (11 August 2017). "The Kremlin will not extend the agreement with Tatarstan. Will it change something?". BBC (in Russian). Retrieved 6 November 2018.
2. "Tatarstan does not want to give up the presidential post". Kommersant (in Russian). 29 December 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
3. Pertsev, Andrei (8 October 2021). "Resets for the 'right people': Russia plans to do away with term limits for regional leaders". Meduza. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
4. Coalson, Robert (19 October 2021). "Putin's Power Play? Tatarstan Activists Say Loss Of 'President' Title Would Be An Existential Blow". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
5. "Russia's Tatarstan may lose president despite MPs rejecting bill". Daily Sabah. 27 October 2021. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
6. "State Duma adopts law prohibiting heads of regions to be called presidents". Realnoe Vremya. 11 November 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
7. "Putin signed a law prohibiting the heads of Russian constituent entities from being called presidents". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (in Russian). 21 December 2021. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
8. "President of Tatarstan did not become governor on June 1". Kazan Reporter (in Russian). 1 June 2022. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
9. Antonov, Kirill (1 June 2022). "The post of president will be excluded from the constitution of Tatarstan by 2023". Kommersant (in Russian). Retrieved 1 June 2022.
10. Leukhina, Tatyana (1 June 2022). "The post of President of Tatarstan will be renamed by 2023". Realnoe Vremya (in Russian). Retrieved 1 June 2022.
11. Latypova, Leyla (4 August 2022). "Russia's Tatar Minority Mourns Loss of Regional Presidency". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
12. "Russia's Tatarstan to Rename Regional Presidency". The Moscow Times. 23 December 2022.
13. "Tatarstan Lawmakers Vote To Change Constitution And Scrap Post of President In Nod To Moscow". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty}. 23 December 2022.
14. "Rustam Minnikhanov signed the law on amendments to the Constitution of Tatarstan". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (in Russian). 26 January 2023. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
15. "History of presidential elections in Tatarstan". TASS (in Russian). 11 September 2020.
16. First President of the Republic of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaimiev: Chronicle of events (March 25, 2010). "Rustam Minnikhanov has taken office as President of the Republic of Tatarstan"; for more information, see the Russian version, "Рустам Минниханов официально вступил в должность Президента Республики Татарстан".
17. "Выборы Президента Республики Татарстан". tatarstan.vybory.izbirkom.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on 4 March 2022. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
18. Results