Putin Pushes Ahead With Plan to Centralize power

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday submitted a draft bill placing new restrictions on political parties to the State Duma, lower house of parliament, as part of his plan for centralization of power.

Under the bill, only registered parties may participate in the elections to the Duma or to the regional assemblies. To win registration, parties must have a minimum of 10,000 permanent members spreading across at least half of Russia's 89 regions. Putin said that too many small parties would make it difficult to ensure long-term stability in the country.

Alexander Veshnyakov, head of the Central Election Commission, told RTR state television that a key provision of the bill is state financing for the parties that at the next election win more than 3 percent of the votes.

Putin said the measures will make Russia easier to govern and could also strengthen the Kremlin's opposition, adding that with fewer, larger parties "we can form government on a party basis and then have a legal opposition to challenge the government."

"I believe that this is the first law marking the beginning of the process of the civilized construction of the political structures of society," Putin said in an interview later in the city of Noginsk, where he was visiting a rescue center of the Emergency Situations Ministry.

On his meeting with the leaders of the Duma factions the day before, Putin noted that he did not care that "not everyone agreed with certain provisions of the law," the most important thing for him was "that everyone came to the conclusion that the law itself is necessary." The parliamentarians promised to back the bill in principle but expected debate on its details.

Describing the meeting as "practical" and "positive," Putin said on Wednesday that according to the agreement reached by parliamentary deputies, the draft bill will be adopted " unconditionally" on its first reading and will later be amended.

The draft drew criticism from smaller parties and independent deputies. Critics said it will in fact rule out the emergence of new political parties and concentrate more power in the president's hands.

People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/