Russian Duma Gives Putin Mandate to Sack GovernorsRussia's lower house of parliament gave President Vladimir Putin an all but unstoppable mandate on Friday to assume sweeping powers to sack elected officials, radically changing the way the country is ruled.The State Duma in Moscow passed the key second plank in Putin's three-part plan to tighten the Kremlin's grip on the world's largest country, giving Putin the power to sack the country's once-mighty regional governors if a court agrees. The overwhelming vote -- with 399 of 450 deputies supporting the measure and only nine opposing -- ensures that the governors will be powerless to block the move. The Duma would need only 300 votes to override a veto from governors who now sit in the Federation Council upper house. The Duma also adopted the third bill in Putin's package, giving governors the power to sack city mayors and other lesser officials, part of Putin's oft-repeated goal of tightening Moscow's grip on the far-flung regions. Political bargaining continued over the first bill in the reform package, which would strip the governors of seats in the upper house and make them liable to criminal prosecution. But Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, on a tour of southern Russia, said Putin wanted no changes to that bill, passed by the Duma last week with a slimmer majority of 308 votes. It drew a veto from the upper house, and there have been signs that the Duma may allow some changes to soften the blow rather than simply override the governors' veto. The Duma held out an olive branch over the first bill on Friday by suggesting the two houses of parliament set up a commission to consider changes. Vladimir Ryzhkov, a leading pro-Putin deputy, said some amendments softening the blow on governors could be considered, including allowing them to serve out current terms rather than quit parliament next year. Governors could also bargain for the right to name the appointees who replace them in the upper house without seeking approval from regional parliaments, and perhaps the power to recall those appointees. Altogether the three bills amount to the deepest changes to the way Russia is ruled since Putin's predecessor Boris Yeltsin enacted the current constitution in 1993. That document already gives the president virtually unlimited authority over the central government. But the weak point in Yeltsin's power was always the regions, where local bosses ruled with little regard for Moscow. Along with parliamentary seats, the governors would lose their immunity from prosecution, and the Kremlin has suggested that some might be thrown in jail. |
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