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Main page > Comments > Politics > A coup for United Russia: Putin will join its candidate list
A coup for United Russia: Putin will join its candidate list
Vladimir Putin will head the United Russia party's candidate list, and may even become the next prime minister. Putin's decision was announced at the United Russia congress yesterday. With Putin on its list, United Russia could win a constitutional majority.
United Russia held its campaign congress yesterday in the hall of the Gostiny Dvor near the Kremlin.
Vladimir Putin's speech at the congress resembled an abridged version of his annual address to parliament. He expressed regret over the rift between rich and poor, promised to develop advanced technologies and restore order in housing and communal services, and praised companies that stopped viewing Russia as a "milch cow" and started perceiving it as the Motherland.
Others speakers at the congress begged Putin to be United Russia's "talisman" in any capacity of his choosing. Weaver Yelena Lapshina implored him to remain for the third term, business tycoon Sergei Borisov pleaded with him to join United Russia and become its leader, Dean Boris Kotelnikov of Samara asked him to head the federal candidate list. Putin refused to amend the constitution or join the party, but accepted the invitation to join the candidate list.
United Russia activists maintain that the second slot on the federal candidate list will be reserved for Boris Gryzlov. Opinions vary on who will be the third candidate. Kaliningrad Governor Georgy Boos predicts that it will be a woman - Valentina Matvienko or Svetlana Zhurova. Oleg Kovalev from the United Russia faction maintains that the third slot is reserved for Sergei Shoigu.
Putin described Kotelnikov's suggestion - that he should become prime minister - as "realistic." He said that all this would require is United Russia's triumph in the parliamentary election and the election of "a decent, capable, and modern man" as president.
Leonty Byzov from the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM) points out that United Russia with Putin heading its candidate list could get 60-65% of the vote in December. This would certainly enable it to form a constitutional majority in the next Duma.
Konstantin Simonov from the National Energy Security Fund maintains that United Russia and the parliament will become the principal instruments of Putin's power after 2008 regardless of what job he holds officially.
Civil Force leader Mikhail Barschevsky claims that not even control over United Russia and the post of prime minister would guarantee Putin complete control over Russia. "A prime minister may be strong, but it's still the president who wield the power," Barschevsky said. The Constitution was tailored for Boris Yeltsin. It enables the president to dismiss the government at any moment, allows him to nominate the prime minister and, should the Duma resist, either make the nominee acting prime minister or disband the parliament. Security ministers, the foreign affairs minister, and director of the Federal Security Service report directly to the president. The president even nominates Central Bank chairmen.
Any strengthening of the positions of the prime minister requires amendment of three articles of the Constitution: on the president, on the government, and on the Federal Assembly but it takes time and time is running out, says Mikhail Krasnov of the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law at the Higher School of Economics.
Vitaly Ivanov from the Political Conjuncture Center believes that Putin will make use of United Russia's resources to control the situation in Russia after 2008. Ivanov doesn't expect Putin to become prime minister, because "...this job isn't really worthy of his present status as national leader."
Political scientist Dmitri Badovsky says that Putin didn't say anything categorical about the possibility of becoming prime minister in the future. He merely gave voters a reason to vote United Russia, that's all. "With the constitutional majority in the Duma rallied behind him, Putin could become prime minister any moment he decides to do so," Badovsky said.
Just Russia, which has aspired to the status of Kremlin party, is admitting defeat. Its leader Sergei Mironov stated that the president's decision will bring in a great many votes for United Russia.
Political scientist Dmitri Oreshkin assumes that the Kremlin must have written off Project Just Russia as a waste of time.
Ivanov agrees that Putin's decision constitutes a crushing blow at Just Russia. He maintains that the party has failed to live up to the Kremlin's expectations.
The LDPR feigns indifference as well. "It doesn't matter. United Russia alone needed Putin's support because it would have never polled over 25% without it," Vladimir Zhirinovsky commented.
Authors: Anna Nikolayeva, Yelena Rudneva, Anastasia Kornya, Alexei Nikolsky
Translated by A. Ignatkin
Published: Vedomosti, October 2, 2007, pp. A1 - A2
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