#1 - JRL 2006-152 - JRL Home
Constitutional Court Chairman Warns Against Granting Putin 'Absolute' Power

MOSCOW. July 5 (Interfax) - The chairman of Russia's Constitutional Court, in an interview to appear in a Russian magazine on Monday, warns against a situation where President Vladimir Putin's current high ratings result in the nation granting him "an absolute indulgence."

"As a rule, it isn't bad at all when a leader has such support. Think of Roosevelt, de Gaulle or Konrad Adenauer. The issue is whether society has safeguards and deterrence mechanisms that guarantee that this confidence does not become an absolute indulgence for the leader," Valery Zorkin told the magazine Bolshaya Politika (Big Politics).

Another issue Zorkin dealt with in his interview was the Russian law that prohibits the same person from holding presidential office for more than two terms running. Zorkin was asked whether the Constitutional Court would consider revising this law to permit three presidential terms to be held in a row.

He argued that the planned unification of Russia and Belarus might mean that the law would be altered.

"When a transformation of this kind takes place, legislation is revised," Zorkin said.

"A new constitution will probably be needed as well," he said. The term of office of the person who becomes president of the new state might be considered as his first term, he argued.

"But let me remark that the Constitution of the Russian Federation makes provision for joining the Russian Federation as a constituent territory, and this would only require a minor change to the legislation. In that case, all decisions would be based on the current Constitution of the Russian Federation," Zorkin said.