United Russia’s leaders Vladimir Volodin, left, and Boris Gryzlov, right, will be glad to offer a hand and a party card to Vladimir Putin.
Photo: Sergey Kiselev
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United Russia Prepares a Card for Putin
United Russia Leader Boris Gryzlov pledged yesterday to personally offer to President Vladimir Putin to join the party and head it at the Congress of April 14 and 15. President-Elect Dmitry Medvedev won’t be offered the card. According to political experts, Russia’s third president may resign even before his authority expires.
“If Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin heads United Russia, it will be the best variant. We have been speaking about it in the last four years,” Boris Gryzlov announced at the yesterday’s conference of United Russia.
Of interest is that United Russia doesn’t invite President-Elect Dmitry Medvedev to become a member. “Pursuant to the law, the military have no right to be the party members. I think that, as he is the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, that is of all branches of armed forces, there are certain obstacles to become a party member,” Gryzlov said.
But Vladimir Putin was invited even in time of being the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. Far back in 2000, one of Edinstvo (predecessor of United Russia) leaders, Emergency Minister Sergei Shoigu said if the president had agreed to head the movement, “it would have been wonderful.” And it was not the last membership proposal made to Putin. In 2007, for instance, he was urged to join the party by Boris Gryzlov and Sergei Borisov, head of OPORA movement.
For Putin, consolidation with the party having the constitutional majority in the State Duma and controlling the better part of the regional parliaments will secure settlement of all issues. One of them was raised yesterday – the interval between parliamentary and presidential elections. The ideal variant, Gryzlov said, is the gap of two years between federal elections.
The comments to this statement are interesting. LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky said it could be achieved by “prolonging the parliament’s authority from four to five years and the president’s term up to seven years.” “Another variant is holding early presidential election in 2009,” Zhirinovsky specified.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Apr. 08, 2008
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