Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a session prior to voting for constitutional amendments at the State Duma on Tuesday.
Photo: Alexei Nikolsky/Associated PressMOSCOW—President Vladimir Putin backed a constitutional amendment to reset his term count, a move that could eventually prolong his two-decade grip on power until 2036.
The State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, on Tuesday adopted a proposal that would allow Mr. Putin to run again in 2024, when his second sequential presidential term ends and he is currently required by the constitution to stand down.
Tuesday’s move was the latest step in a carefully choreographed process that began in January and has involved a change of government and Russia’s biggest constitutional overhaul since the end of the Soviet Union.
In a speech to lawmakers, punctuated by frequent applause, Mr. Putin said that he would back the changes if the country’s constitutional court didn’t object. They would be part of a wider package of constitutional amendments to be put to a national plebiscite in April.
“Russia has had enough revolutions,” Mr. Putin said. “The president is the guarantor of the constitution, and to say more simply, the guarantor of the security of our state, its internal stability and internal, evolutionary development.”
With his conditional approval of the amendment, Mr. Putin is giving himself more options for after his term ends, said former government adviser Konstantin Gaaze, a Moscow-based political analyst.
“Putin is convincing himself that he is irreplaceable,” Mr. Gaaze said. “So he re-established himself as a personal guarantor of the elite’s future.”
Mr. Putin, 67 years old, has held power in Russia since 1999, as either president or prime minister, though his popularity has begun to flag in recent months amid U.S. sanctions over Russia’s conflict with Ukraine and low oil and gas prices bruised the economy and living standards for Russians.
In January, Mr. Putin proposed constitutional changes aimed at redistributing formal powers between the president, prime minister and parliament. Mr. Putin also reshuffled the government, removing longtime ally Dmitry Medvedev as prime minister and putting the former head of the tax service, Mikhail Mishustin, in charge.
The constitutional changes fueled speculation that Mr. Putin was seeking ways to continue to wield political power after 2024.
Mr. Putin, however, has denied that he wants to remain in power, saying he isn’t in favor of the Soviet-era tradition of having leaders who die in office.
A national vote on the constitutional amendments is scheduled for April 22. The changes include proposals to improve social policy and public administration.
While Mr. Putin’s plans to overhaul politics in Russia haven’t been met with a significant rise in public resistance, several thousand people attended a rally in the Russian capital last month, ostensibly to mark the murder of an opposition leader, in what they said was a rebuke to Mr. Putin’s plans to stay in power.
On Tuesday, Valentina Tereshkova, a lawmaker and the first woman to have flown in space, proposed to scrap presidential term limits to allow Mr. Putin to run for re-election.
“In fact, this isn’t about him [Putin]; this is about us, citizens, and the future of the country,” she said. “What I know for sure is that the very fact of the availability of this opportunity for the incumbent president, considering his huge authority, is a stabilizing factor for our society.”
Mr. Putin, meanwhile, rejected the need for early parliamentary elections, another idea being debated at the Duma. Elections are currently scheduled for 2021.
“It’s all clear: There won’t be early elections. Putin will be president for life,” opposition leader Alexei Navalny said in a tweet.”
Write to Georgi Kantchev at georgi.kantchev@wsj.com
Copyright ©2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
"term" - Google News
March 10, 2020 at 09:24PM
https://ift.tt/2VZ2C5N
Putin Backs Proposal Paving Way for New Presidential Term - The Wall Street Journal
"term" - Google News
https://ift.tt/35lXs52
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
Related Posts :
Here we go again: Long-term care residents face triple threat as COVID-19 cases rise - ABC Action News- Steamboat City Council extends short-term rental moratorium - Craig Daily Press
- Quick college credentials: Student outcomes and accountability policy for short-term programs - Brookings Institution
- Jim Cramer says near-term Covid delta variant concerns won't threaten long-term stock market gains - CNBC
- City commissioners discuss proposal for regulating short-term rentals - Manhattan Mercury
0 Response to "Putin Backs Proposal Paving Way for New Presidential Term - The Wall Street Journal"
Post a Comment