Medvedev's amendments

The President proposed developing democracy and amending the Constitution

Dmitry Medvedev yesterday dispelled doubts about whether the date of his first presidential address was chosen well. If the head of state had not himself in his speech recalled the election of a new president of the largest world power , hardly anyone present in the Kremlin’s St. George’s Hall would have weighed the significance of this fact with the content of Medvedev’s speech. The initiatives he expressed yesterday regarding the political development of Russia for the country turned out to be clearly more important than who exactly became president of the United States.

To tell the truth, no special sensations were expected from President Medvedev’s first message. Yes, it was obvious that the war in South Ossetia and the global financial crisis would be reflected in his speech - he himself confirmed this a few days ago. Leaks from the Kremlin that Medvedev would present his value system through the prism of the Russian Constitution, which will soon turn 15 years old, also did not foretell any radicalism. On the contrary, in recent years the authorities have carefully protected the inviolability of the Russian Basic Law, including with regard to increasing the term of presidential powers. Five years ago, when the political environment was actively discussing the possibility of allowing the head of state to be elected for a third term , Boris Yeltsin categorically rejected this idea and expressed the formula that has since become a textbook: “The Constitution has not exhausted its potential.” In 2005, answering a question about a third term, Vladimir Putin spoke about the same thing: “I believe that the most important element in strengthening Russian statehood today is stability. Stability in the country and in society cannot be ensured in any other way than the stability of legislation and the Basic Law of the country - the Constitution. Therefore, under no circumstances do I intend to change the Constitution.”

Amendments to the Constitution are at the forefront of the package of political innovations proposed yesterday by Dmitry Medvedev. The idea of ​​“separating” the presidential and parliamentary elections in time has long been discussed in the Kremlin, but circumstances made these discussions rather theoretical. Now the parliament will have to consider the issue of extending its own powers from four to five years and the presidential powers from four to six years. In addition, Medvedev proposes to enshrine in the Constitution a norm that would oblige the government to annually report to the Duma “on the results of activities and on issues raised directly by parliament.” The President believes that these initiatives of his are not “constitutional reform”, but an “adjustment” of the Basic Law: we are talking about “really important, but still clarifying amendments that do not affect the political and legal essence of existing institutions.”

In addition to constitutional amendments, the president proposed a whole list of “adjustments” to the political sphere regarding the formation of the Duma, the Federation Council, and regional and municipal authorities. Among them are the actual reduction of the barrier for political parties to enter the Duma (those who received at least 5% of the votes, according to Dmitry Medvedev, should be guaranteed “one or two deputy mandates”), the abolition of cash deposits in elections of all levels and abolishing the collection of signatures for those who overcome the 5 percent threshold in elections to the federal parliament or create factions in a third of regional legislative assemblies. Medvedev proposes to change the principle of forming the Federation Council again. After reforms at the beginning of Putin's rule, this body acquired an amazing set of characters, but practically lost its own identity. The President proposes to form it “from among persons elected to representative bodies of power and deputies of local self-government of the corresponding subject of the federation,” while at the same time abolishing the residency requirement - thereby, according to Medvedev, “citizens who have gone through the public election procedure” will get into this body. The head of state proposes to strengthen the role of the parliamentary majority by transferring to the parties that received the largest number of votes in regional elections the right to nominate governors.

And although these measures look like some “expansion” of the political space, creating opportunities for revitalizing political life, the “adjustment” in the form of lengthening the presidential and parliamentary terms can also be assessed as a step towards slowing them down, reducing the already low potential of political competition.

Among the initiatives outlined yesterday by President Medvedev (in the field of security, the economy, the judicial system, combating bureaucracy and corruption, school education), the political block is undoubtedly the main one. However, it is precisely this that raises the most significant questions. Why did the proposal to increase the working hours of the president and parliament appear right now and in exactly this form - without signs of a long-faded public discussion on this matter and without discussion with existing political forces? If we admit that now is the right moment (enough time has already passed since Vladimir Putin left the Kremlin, and the next elections are still far away), then what is the motivation of the authorities in essence? The reference to the fact that the president and parliament must have “enough time to implement everything declared and really show the results of their work to the people” is difficult to consider as exhaustive. And if we consider that the initiatives presented by the president are part of some harmonious, holistic picture of the world in which “freedom is better than lack of freedom,” then, apparently, surprises still await us.

Andrey DENISOV