Federalism and Local Politics in Russia

Unification as a political project 99be realized within the current federal legislation on self-government organization.The first scenario is based upon a two-layer government system, withthe first layer being a state power and the second one being local selfgovernment.This scenario is less favourable as it would lead to unnecessaryduplication of functions. The second scenario is characterized by a one-layergovernment system, whereby the Komi-Permyak Okrug would become aunified municipality. In this case the state functions would be realized at theKrai level and the Okrug status would lose its special meaning. Statementsby Oleg Chirkunov, who is the first Governor of the unified Permskii Krai,have only added uncertainty to the issue as he had no clear vision of theOkrug’s special status. In his early interviews on the Okrug’s future withinthe Krai, he discussed a number of different possible scenarios, confusingboth the Krai and the Okrug political elites. 53The new Krai Charter should have resolved the issue of special status.However, the first draft, which was published in January 2007, demonstratedthat all issues related to the Okrug’s special status remained unresolved. Itstipulates that the Komi-Permyak Okrug remains as a unified administrativeterritorial entity with the town of Kudymkar as an administrative centre.The Okrug administration represents the state power and it is an integralpart of the Perm Krai administrative structure. The head of the Okrugadministration receives the status of a minister of the regional government.Thus, the Charter provides a duplication of state functions at the Krai andOkrug levels. Moreover, originally it was agreed that the head of the Okrug’sadministration would receive the higher status of vice-governor, but the firstdraft of the Charter diminishes his/her role to that of an ordinary ministerwho will need to defend the Okrug’s interests before other ministers with thesame administrative status.The draft Charter also gives a choice of organizations of self-governmentwithin the Okrug’s territory. First, its states that the Okrug consists of differenttypes of municipalities, that is municipal settlements, municipal districtsand town district. Here the charter changes its grammatical tense fromthe ‘imperative’ to the ‘subjunctive’.There are gains and losses in any of the choices of municipal structure. Ifthe Okrug becomes a single municipality then the municipal districts wouldhave to give up their current status and become municipal settlements. Thisis the most favourable solution for the Okrug elite, but not for the municipalbureaucracy that would loose its power. Moreover, there is a problem withthe rule regarding a one-day walking distance access to the centre of municipalityand with the town Okrug of Kudymkar. If all municipal districtsretained their present status then the Okrug’s special status would becomemeaningful, as there would not be any joint Okrug budget, but the Okrugadministration would not be accountable to the Okrug’s population for theiractions and all cooperation would be inter-municipal.Thus, the form of the Okrug’s special status remains unclear. Even thoughthe charter has a special chapter on guaranteeing the preservation of the