"The referendum has considerable political consequences: for the first time three subjects of the Federation have united," the CEC head said at the press-conference on Monday, commenting on the referendum results.
The CEC head reminded the audience that in all three regions, a majority of the constituents came out for unification: 92.41% - in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, 79.92% - in Evenkia, and 62.11% - on Taimyr.
Veshnyakov pointed out that "the idea of the unification referendum was a somewhat national idea on the scale of the three regions," and unification itself was supported not only by the constituents but also by the regional elite itself.
"Now, the regions face the task of acting consistently on legally fixing the results of the referendum," the head of the Central Election Commission said.
Veshnyakov explained that the first step will be the drafting and adopting of a special federal law on the unification of the three regions.
According to him, the unification will take place on January 1, 2007. Until that, the authorities in all three regions will retain their powers.
The CEC head supposed that somewhere in the spring of 2007 the legislative assembly of the unified Krasnoyarsk Territory has to be elected. "The possibility of holding these elections according to a proportionate system is being studied," he said. As a result of this unification process, the CEC head added, the territorial parliamentarians will give powers to the governor of the territory.
Mr. Veshnyakov underscored that the results of the referendum on the unification of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Taimyr and Evenkia may give an additional impulse to unification processes in other regions. In particular, he did not exclude the possibility of the unification of the Kamchatka Region and the Koryak Autonomous Area.
He reminded the audience that on the wave of the separatist sentiments of the 1990s, the ties between the regions were artificially broken, and it was at that time that many autonomous territories and regions became independent subjects of the Federation. At the same time the CEC head believes that the idea of unification referendums will not be supported in those regions and territories of Russia, which have always been independent subjects of the Federation.
