12.01.09

Dmitriy Medvedev has submitted draft laws to the State Duma that give the parties that won the regional elections the right to nominate gubernatorial candidates. In the opinion of experts, these amendments will not only strengthen the role of parties in the life of the country, but also confer a "double legitimacy" on regional heads. At the same time, the president retains the role of chief guarantor of the integrity and efficacy of the Russian political system.

Dmitriy Medvedev declared the need to strengthen the role of parties in the life of the country back on 5 November in his Message to the Federal Assembly. Now the relevant proposals have reached the State Duma in the form of draft laws. They will be examined in the spring session of parliament.

In the opinion of the majority of legislators, the president's initiatives will not only impact positively on the country's entire political system, but will also increase the role of parties and form a new political culture in Russia. In this respect, the president's proposal has proved timely. Andrey Isayev, first deputy secretary of the United Russia General Council Presidium, observes: "The party system in Russia has developed to the point where parties can now bear full responsibility for the situation in the regions."

In the event of the adoption of the president's amendments, the actual procedure of investing regional heads with powers should become more transparent, politicians believe. State Duma Vice Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin suggests that under the system for organizing power in the federation components proposed by Dmitriy Medvedev "people will be given the ability to hold their governor accountable, and if he does not cope, remove him from office." Citizens will be able to monitor the regional authorities' work both via their own representatives in legislative assemblies, and via the party that nominated the governor.

"Effectively, we are today moving toward a system in which the citizens' expression of will in future will directly influence the formation of not only of the legislature but also of the executive," Irina Yarovaya, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee for Federation Affairs and Regional Policy, stresses.

She is confident that the law will enable inhabitants of a region to understand that "by voting for this or that party, by voting for this or that deputy, they are also effectively voting for a governor, because they are defining the political course of development." It turns out that governors, in the event of the realization of the president's initiatives, will receive a "double legitimacy."

In addition, Vyacheslav Volodin stresses, the regional leader will receive additional support for his decisions. "His candidacy is submitted for investiture by the nationally elected president, but proposed by the party for which the majority of the electorate voted in the region," the State Duma vice speaker explains.

"The parties can propose the most successful candidacy from their point of view; it remains within the president's discretion to agree with this proposal or not," Andrey Isayev comments. In Irina Yarovaya's opinion, this suggests that both the president and the parties are "committed to selecting the most responsible and highest-quality candidacies." But it is the head of state as the chief arbiter in the process of confirming regional heads who is vested with the right to protect parties from mistakes, politicians note.

Experts also draw attention to the fact that, according to the draft law, the president reserves the right to submit a candidate to the legislative organ on his own account. The main point of the president's initiative, political scientist Vitaliy Ivanov notes, is that "its embodiment in law will not result in a decentralization of power." In his opinion, first, the right to select gubernatorial candidates is enshrined "at the level of the federal party leadership." And second, "the president has the last word -- he retains the maximum powers in this question." The political analyst stresses that the president remains the chief guarantor of the efficacy of the party system and the work of the political system as a single organism in the interests of Russian citizens.

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Source: Nezavisimaya Gazeta