22 September 2003, 12:07
Pre-election passions run high
An extemporaneous meeting of people showing support for Shamil Burayev's candidacy for the post of the Chechen Republic's president was held in Achkhoy-Martan, Chechnya's district center, on September 13. Shamil Burayev is a former district administration head dismissed from his post by "Chechnya's Acting President" Akhmad Kadyrov on the threshold of the elections.
The public of the Chechen Republic is anxious about the fact that a number of candidates able to make real competition with Kadyrov withdrew their candidacies and the Supreme Court of the Chechen Republic declared Malik Saidullayev's candidacy registration invalid.
Representatives of the election headquarters of Malik Saidullayev, Husein Jabrailov, and Aslambek Aslakhanov appeared at the meeting. They stressed in their speeches that there was a lack of the common legality in the pre-election struggle, though Russian President Vladimir Putin had promised it would be, and pointed that Moscow's protИgИ Kadyrov was leading the republic to a civil war.
The speakers also called upon all the citizens to support the presidential candidacy of Shamil Burayev - "the only contender who is able to lead the people of Chechnya out of Kadyrov's government cesspit."
Source: Society for Russian-Chechen Friendship
