Ahead of presidential elections, Putin promises "democratic" policy making

Philippine Times Monday 6th February, 2012

MOSCOW- Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has stressed need for Russia to adopt new democratic mechanisms to move forward and to be able to react swiftly to the interests and desires of large groups in society.

Pointing out that the government gives everyone a chance to express their views by putting draft laws online to seek suggestions, in an article in the "Kommersant" newspaper Monday, Putin admitted that it was not enough.

"All these steps only help to exercise a passive right, meaning a citizen's right to respond to various ideas and projects proposed by the authorities," said Putin. "In this regard, I suggest introducing a rule for a mandatory revision in Parliament of those initiatives that collect 100,000 or more signatures on the Internet."

Running for a third term as president, Putin promised Russians a bigger say in politics and a cleaner bureaucracy. Putin has served as president for two terms earlier from 2000-08.

In the fourth article in a series outlining his electoral program, Putin said, "We don't need a situation where all that is left of democracy is the faade, where democracy is understood as a one-off political entertainment show and casting session for candidates, where substance is forgotten to make way for shocking statements and mutual accusations, where real politics is reduced to shady deals and decisions made behind the scenes, but never discussed with voters."

Favouring direct municipal elections and local-level referendums, Putin, who has been facing wide opposition ahead of the March 4 presidential election, promised to introduce draft measures to develop Russia's political and party system in the State Duma.

Braving freezing weather conditions, several thousand people staged rallies in central Moscow Sunday seeking an end to Putin's rule. They were protesting the outcome of the parliamentary elections held in December, which the observers too have criticized for not being transparent.

Ironically, while Putin has been speaking lately of promoting democratic norms like people's participation in budget policies and governance, it was during his term as president in 2004 that several retrograde steps were taken.

These include elimination of direct election of regional governors and direct representation of voters in the national legislature.

Calling on specialists to help bridge the gap between people and policy makers, Putin promised to make public involvement in decision making a reality soon.

"Citizens and professional and public unions must be able to 'beta-test' all state documents," Putin proposed.

Warning against the dangers of oversimplifying "politics", Putin said, "Spin doctors and image makers should not control politicians. In fact, I think that our people will not buy that any longer."