Danil Azamatov

Presidential Administration, Ufa, Bashkortostan

The religious factor in the 2003 Bashkortostan presidential elections

The presidential elections in Bashkortostan, held in late 2003, demonstrated the importance of the religious factor in a region inhabited by a population with a complex by ethnic and confessional background. Murtaza Rakhimov, who has occupied the top position in the republic since 1990, gained a victory in the second round. The fierce pre-election battle between Rakhimov and representatives of the regional business elite – Sergei Veremeenko and Ralif Safin – inevitably drew into its orbit the republic’s largest religious organizations.

First, the election campaign illustrated that in contemporary conditions confessions cannot be independent structures and remain outside the political processes.

Second, the elections illustrated that large financial support from business can severely damage traditional unions between state and confession-based institutions.

The Spiritual Muslim Board of Bashkortostan, along with its leader Mufti Nurmuhammed Nigmatullin, offered outright support for the candidature of Rakhimov. But the Central Spiritual Muslim Board of Russia (led by Talgat Tudgutdin) and the Ufa Eparchy Board of the Russian Orthodox Church (guided by Archbishop Nikon) gave their support to the incumbent’s competitors.

Another peculiarity of the republic’s elections was the utilization of political strategies that used religious and ethnic factors side by side to build up an electoral base. Rakhimov forged a traditional pre-election campaign, focusing his efforts on strengthening the republic’s national and intra-confessional peace. This allowed him to win votes in Bashkir Ural region and in the majority of republic’s southern and central regions.

Attempting to appeal equally to Slavic-Christians and Turkic-Muslims, Veremeenko reached out to the Islamic faithful and Safin offered kind gestures toward Orthodox believers. Simultaneously, though, the competing counter-propagandist materials cultivated the image of either an “Orthodox banker” (Veremeenko) or a “firm Muslim” (Safin). Consequently, a large portion of the electorate voted, nevertheless, proceeding from ethno-confessional criteria.