Translated material
Cosmetic repairs
Amendments to the law on parties have been prepared
A bill providing for amendments to the law on political parties has already been prepared and will be submitted to the State Duma “in the very near future.” This information was confirmed to journalists yesterday by the head of the Duma Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building, United Russia member Vladimir Pligin. He explained that the document contains two norms: on reducing the minimum number of members of a political party required for registration, and on the mandatory rotation of party leadership. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev mentioned such changes in his message to the Federal Assembly on November 5, 2008.The size threshold required to register a new political organization is planned to be reduced from the current 50 thousand to 45 thousand members. Vladimir Pligin does not rule out that in a few years this level may be gradually reduced even further - to 30 thousand people.
In addition, the bill provides for a rule according to which “one person does not have the right to serve as the head of a collegial, permanent body of a party or its regional branch for more than two consecutive terms.” By the way, similar restrictions are already contained in the charter of United Russia itself: clauses 8.2.3.1 and 8.2.3.2 prohibit the same person from holding certain elected and leading party positions for more than two consecutive terms.
At the same time, Mr. Pligin made a reservation that the provision on leadership rotation will not affect the current party bosses. “As a general rule, the rules of law do not have retroactive force and apply only to legal relations for a future period of time,” Mr. Pligin explained to a Vremya Novostey correspondent.
In the expert community, these initiatives cause a mixed reaction. “Reducing the minimum party size to 45 thousand will not affect anything,” Sergei Mikheev, vice-president of the Center for Political Technologies, told a Vremya Novostey correspondent. “This is a symbolic measure that is designed to support a different norm and provide an opportunity to intervene in the process of rotation of party leaders.” According to Mr. Mikheev, this norm is “directed against opposition parties,” in particular against the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.
Let us recall that the pro-Kremlin “Fair Russia” has long been inclining the communists to a voluntary-forced merger, which is prevented by the position of the Red leader Gennady Zyuganov. “But the authorities do not take into account that the communists can choose a leader even less negotiable than Gennady Zyuganov,” notes Mr. Mikheev. “The younger generation is more radical, and there are no guarantees that the new head of the party will suit the Kremlin.”
Such a rotation of personnel could deal an even more painful blow to the LDPR, which from the first day of its founding was a party of one man. Without their permanent leader, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the Liberal Democrats would hardly have survived even one election cycle. However, the new law will not prevent him from being transferred to any other position, or from continuing to be number one on the list of candidates for elections at any level.
But the chairman of United Russia, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, will most likely not be affected by the provision on the rotation of party leaders at all. Let us recall that after the establishment of his current party position in the spring of 2008, communist lawyers challenged the new provisions of the “bear” charter in the Prosecutor General’s Office. The essence of the problem was that, according to the law “On Political Parties,” governing and control and audit bodies are elected by secret ballot, while Mr. Putin was elected openly. As a result, the Prosecutor General’s Office decided that “the supreme council of the party, the chairman of the supreme council of the party and the chairman of the party do not belong to the governing and control and audit bodies.” Thus, it is unlikely that anything will prevent Vladimir Putin and Boris Gryzlov from remaining in their posts for as long as desired. In this case, the amendments being adopted now may turn into profanation.
Vladimir Pligin himself, commenting on future amendments to a Vremya Novostei correspondent, yesterday refused to talk about the fate of specific party leaders: “Let's wait and see the norms of the law.” At the same time, he noted that “the final version of the bill is the prerogative of the president.”