President of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, whose term expires this fall, intends to stay in office without direct elections, the leader told Gazeta.ru on the eve of a parliamentary vote on the issue.
"I work day and night without being directly elected. I will work day and night if I am elected as well. By direct parliament vote, or even if I am just appointed, for me it is not ambition," the Ingush leader said, adding that if the parliament decides to hold direct elections, he would only regret the time wasted on the election campaign.
Earlier, the People's Congress of Ingushetia recommended that parliament cancel direct elections, following the example of Dagestan, which became the first Russian region to cancel gubernatorial elections on April 18.
The Ingush parliament plans to consider the bill on the elections procedure on April 24.
