Editing Tatarstan (section)

== Politics ==
[[File:Kazan House of Tatarstan Government 08-2016.jpg|thumb|Cabinet of Ministers building]]
Tatarstan's [[unicameralism|unicameral]] [[State Council of Tatarstan|State Council]] consists of 100&nbsp;seats: fifty for representatives of the parties and fifty for deputies from the republic's localities. <!--someone needs to replace this with proper terminology-->The Chairman of the State Council is [[Farid Mukhametshin|Farit Mukhametshin]], who has served since 27&nbsp;May 1998. The government is the Сabinet of Ministers. The prime minister of the Republic of Tatarstan is Alexei Pesoshin.

According to the Constitution of the Republic of Tatarstan, the Rais can be elected only by the people of Tatarstan, but due to Russian federal law, this law was suspended for an indefinite term. The Russian law on the election of governors says they should be elected by [[Regional parliaments of Russia|regional parliaments]] and that the candidate for Rais can be presented only by the [[president of Russia]].

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"); lawmakers were expected to adopt new amendments to Tatarstan's constitution so that it would be in line with the [[2020 amendments to the Constitution of Russia]] and a federal law in 2021 which abolished regional presidencies. The title of president was seen as the last remaining symbol of federalism following the centralisation reforms under [[Vladimir Putin]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/12/23/russias-tatarstan-to-rename-regional-presidency-a79788|title=Russia's Tatarstan to Rename Regional Presidency|website=[[The Moscow Times]]|date=23 December 2022}}</ref> Incumbent president Rustam Minnikhanov originally was to retain the title of president until his term expires in 2025 under transitional agreements, however he became Rais in February 2024.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-tatarstan-scrap-president/32190974.html|title=Tatarstan Lawmakers Vote To Change Constitution And Scrap Post of President In Nod To Moscow|website=[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]]}|date=23 December 2022}}</ref>

=== Political status ===
[[File:Губернаторский дворец (Казань).jpg|thumb|Presidential Palace]]

The Republic of Tatarstan is a constituent republic of the [[Russian Federation]]. Most of the Russian federal subjects are tied with the Russian federal government by the uniform Federal Treaty (The contract expired in 2017), but relations between the government of Tatarstan and the Russian federal government are more complex and are precisely defined in the [[Constitution]] of the Republic of Tatarstan. The following passage from the Constitution defines the republic's status without contradicting the Constitution of the Russian Federation:

{{blockquote|text=
The Republic of Tatarstan is a democratic state governed by the rule of law within the Russian Federation. The statehood of the Republic of Tatarstan is expressed in its possession of the full extent of state power outside the purview of the Russian Federation and the powers of the Russian Federation on matters of joint jurisdiction of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tatarstan; in its possession of its own territory, population, system of state authorities, its own Constitution and legislation, state languages, and state symbols.<ref>{{cite web |title=Конституция Республики Татарстан |url=https://minjust.tatarstan.ru/konstitutsiya.htm?pub_id=1084014.htm |website=Министерство юстиции Республики Татарстан |language=ru}}</ref>
}}