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Duma factions have decided on their attitude towards the future prime minister

All four parliamentary factions have decided on their position regarding the approval of Vladimir Putin as Prime Minister of Russia. The State Duma will consider this issue on May 8, the day after the inauguration of President Dmitry Medvedev. This time, the candidate for prime minister will not hold preliminary consultations with factions, the tradition of which dates back to Viktor Chernomyrdin. Representatives of three of the four Duma factions said they did not see the need for this, saying they had already gotten to know Mr. Putin well enough during his eight years as president.

At yesterday's presidium of the United Russia faction, which, of course, will support the candidacy of Putin, who recently became the non-partisan leader of the party in power, the issue of consultations was not even touched upon. And Deputy Speaker of the State Duma from United Russia Lyubov Sliska reminded reporters that the procedure for such consultations is not prescribed either in the Constitution or in the law on the government. It is not spelled out in the State Duma regulations either. “All previous such consultations were consensual and organized in accordance with the personal wishes of the candidate himself, who wanted to communicate with deputies before putting the issue to a vote,” Ms. Sliska said. United Russia members are convinced that Putin has already met enough with the leadership of parliamentary factions, so there is no need for consultations now.

Vice Speaker of the State Duma from the LDPR faction Vladimir Zhirinovsky shares the same opinion. “Preliminary consultations in parliament, in this case, I consider them unnecessary,” says the LDPR leader in a statement distributed in the State Duma. “We all know Putin well; during his two presidential terms we have had more than one opportunity to be convinced of his excellent professional and personal qualities.” Mr. Zhirinovsky noted that his faction would also support Putin's candidacy for the post of prime minister.

The head of the “A Just Russia” faction in the State Duma, Nikolai Levichev, also considered the consultations of deputies with the candidate for the post of prime minister Putin “inappropriate” (although some members of his faction had previously spoken out in favor of holding such a meeting). “Such consultations would be necessary if the deputies were not familiar with the political views and biography of the candidate,” Mr. Levichev told reporters.

Only the communists were in favor of consultations with factions. “In all parliaments of the world, including the State Duma, there is a tradition of holding preliminary consultations with factions before considering the issue of approving the head of government,” said Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov yesterday. “I hope that the candidate for this post - and, as we know, will be Vladimir Putin - will not deviate from this tradition.” At the same time, he noted that the communists would vote against Putin’s appointment as prime minister, since “the entire previous course pursued by him and his government had nothing to do with the ideals of socialism and justice.”

Ksenia VERETENNIKOVA