03.02.09

The Duma is slated to discuss the presidential draft law permitting political parties with the majority in regional legislatures to nominate governors. United Russia will go for it without qualms. The LDPR promises to vote "aye" on its own terms. The CPRF will protest and vote "nay" because it promotes a return to direct gubernatorial election.

As matters stand, candidates for governor are nominated by presidential plenipotentiary representatives in federal regions. Given a list of several potential candidates, the president picks one of them and suggests for endorsement by the regional parliament.

Once the law about to be discussed in the Duma is adopted, the power to nominate candidates will be invested in the political party that controls this particular regional legislature. The political party will be given two attempts. Should the president turn down all candidates on both occasions, he will have to consult with all political parties represented in the parliament of the given region. As a matter of fact, the president will retain the right to nominate a candidate of his own (even someone having nothing to do with the majority in the regional parliament) regardless of when a mutually acceptable candidate is found. If the regional legislature proves intractable and turns down two candidates suggested by the president, the head of state may dissolve the parliament.

The draft law meanwhile points out that the president will consult with "the supreme collegial body" of the party of the majority. United Russia controls 79 regional legislatures out of 83. Consultations with it therefore will imply a discussion with Boris Gryzlov as Supreme Council Chairman, Vyacheslav Volodin as General Council Secretary, or Vladimir Putin as party leader. Odds are that appointment of governors will depend on the tandem of Putin and Medvedev and its will.

Russian regions do not seem to mind.

Duma Senior Deputy Chairman Oleg Morozov explained that the ruling party intended to vote the draft law but not because it was after additional powers implied. "It simply means that United Russia is prepared to shoulder additional responsibility for the situation in the country, crisis or no crisis," Morozov said.

Communists will vote against the draft law because they insist on a return to direct gubernatorial elections. Fair Russia will vote "eye" in the hope that it will start beating United Russia in regional campaigns sooner of later. The LDPR is prepared to back the draft law as long as one condition is met. "We want the opposition involved in consultations," LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky said. As far as Liberal Democrats are concerned, one candidate for governor should be nominated by the party controlling the regional parliament, another by all other parties represented in this legislature, and the third by the president himself. Zhirinovsky is convinced that only this arrangement will prevent "one-party domination".

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Source: Kommersant