/ 23 December 2011

Russia’s desperate bid to appease protesters

Russia's Desperate Bid To Appease Protesters

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has proposed a host of liberal reforms in an apparent attempt to appease anti-government protesters two days before a major demonstration against a disputed parliamentary vote.

Medvedev called for the reinstatement of gubernatorial elections, an easing of political party registration rules and entertained the possibility of loosening the Kremlin’s grip on television in his final state of the union address.

Yet critics treated the proposals with suspicion, noting that Medvedev has long engaged in liberal rhetoric while yielding few results. Medvedev is due to step down in May following a March 4 presidential vote in which he has agreed not to run, ceding his nomination to Russia’s long-time leader, Vladimir Putin.

Medvedev first denounced Russia’s protesters before acknowledging their concerns. “We will not allow provocateurs and extremists to pull society into their adventures or allow foreign interference in our internal affairs,” he said, opening his speech, mirroring Putin’s repeated accusations that the west has provoked people on to the streets.

“People are tired of having their interests ignored,” he added later, while outlining a series of proposals apparently designed to address some of the protesters’ concerns. “I hear those who talk about the need for change and understand them.”

Medvedev said he was proposing “a comprehensive reform of our political system”, starting with an initiative first proposed by Putin: a return to the direct election of Russia’s governors.

‘Presidential filter’
Putin cancelled the practice — which includes the election for the mayors of protest centres Moscow and St Petersburg — in 2004.

During a televised question-and-answer session last week, he entertained the possibility of returning the direct vote but repeatedly said that the process would be controlled by a “presidential filter”, meaning the Kremlin would still have to approve candidates.

Medvedev also called for an easing of the rules required to register parties. Liberal parties have repeatedly been denied the chance to register, often on technicalities that often appear to reflect the Kremlin’s political concerns. He said the number of signatures required to run for president — two-million — should be reduced to 300 000.

Medvedev also said the creation of a public television channel should be considered — the Kremlin currently controls all main television channels, one of Putin’s first moves after coming to power in 1999.

Other proposals included scrapping rules that require candidates for federal and regional legislatures to gather signatures in order to participate in elections and a move to have half the deputies in the Duma elected directly rather than via party lists.

Medvedev did not address the protesters’ main demand — the throwing out of a December 4 elections result that saw United Russia take a majority in the Duma despite widespread allegations of fraud.

‘Nothing more than PR’
“On the one hand, it’s clear that the people, via these protests have been heard and that is good,” said Ilya Ponomaryov, a Duma deputy involved in organising the protests. “But what’s bad is there were no concrete methods proposed. And most of what he has proposed he won’t have to answer for — his term is ending. It looks like nothing more than PR.”

The Duma’s new speaker, Sergei Naryshkin, said the political reform proposals had nothing to do with a December 10 anti-government protest that gathered up to 50 000 people.

Protesters have promised to gather on Saturday in the latest show of discontent and have increasingly turned their focus on Putin’s expected return in the upcoming presidential vote.

Medvedev attempted to make the case for continuing stability, the word that has become code for Putin’s continued leadership.

“Russia needs democracy, not chaos,” he told the gathering of Cabinet ministers and parliamentarians seated in a gilded Kremlin hall.

“We must learn to listen to one another, we must respect public opinion and not impose solutions from above,” he said, before adding: “We are required to continue what we have begun.” —