Before President Dmitry Medvedev had time to respond to the proposal of Right Cause leader Mikhail Prokhorov to limit the number of seats in parliament for the winning party to 226 seats, his subordinate had already criticized this proposal. Medvedev instructed the administration to familiarize itself with Prokhorov’s initiative, published in the manifesto of his party, and deputy head of the administration Vladislav Surkov had already stated that this was a formality. The initiative itself, according to the courtier, “contradicts the basic principles of democracy and violates the rights of voters.” In general, it is clear: democracy and voter rights mean that United Russia has a blocking stake.