Pundits Say Putin Will Formalize Party Leadership at One Russia Congress
Interfax
Moscow, 14 April: [Incumbent Russian President] Vladimir Putin's leadership of One Russia will be formalized at the party's congress, which is taking place on 14-15 April, Russian political analysts say.
"In reality, the party acknowledges Putin as its leader. This reality cannot be avoided. The leadership of theparty cannot avoid this fact," Gleb Pavlovskiy [head of the Effective Policy Foundation] told Interfax, pointingout that it would thus be quite logical if Putin was proposed as leader of the party at the One Russia congress.
Commenting on One Russia's position on the idea of President-elect Dmitriy Medvedev joining the party,Pavlovskiy said: "I do not see any reason why the party cannot propose that Medvedev joins the party. There are notany formal obstacles to it."
At the same time, Pavlovskiy believes that Medvedev might have his own reasons not to join the party. "Oneobstacle is the tradition of a non-partisan presidency. There is such tradition. In particular, this custom wasestablished by Putin himself," he said.
"That is why it is a difficult question for Medvedev here. However, it seems to me that the party has to makesuch a proposal to Medvedev - naturally, not to head the party but join it," Pavlovskiy said.
He believes that if Medvedev joins the party, a situation whereby the president would be answerable to Prime MinisterPutin would be "formally possible", but "politically it will be complicated to a certainextent".
"The leader of the party does not have any administrative powers with regard to an ordinary member of the party.The party is not a military structure," Pavlovskiy said.
For his part, Vitaliy Ivanov , vice president of the Political Centre for the Study of Current Political Events,considers the decision about Putin's leadership of One Russia to be almost predetermined.
"If he was not going to somehow formalize his leadership in the party, it would not have been discussed for the past week and a half. If the party invites him, if Boris Gryzlov, leader and incumbent chairman of the party, is openly speaking about it and the Supreme Council is taking the relevant decisions, certain negotiations about it have takenplace and a start has been made," Ivanov told Interfax.
He believes that it is all about what status Putin will have in One Russia. "There could be various options.Putin may join the party and take Gryzlov's post, or he might take up a new post especially created for him - that of the party's leader," Ivanov said.
Speaking about future cooperation between Putin and Medvedev, Ivanov said that it would be wrong to describe it asrelations between a boss and his subordinate. "The centre of power is represented by two people. There will be notwo centres of power. We had and will have one centre of power represented by two people - President DmitriyAnatolyevich Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. In my opinion, it is a fundamental thing,"he said.
Ivanov also believes that the president-elect is not inclined to join One Russia. "As for Dmitriy Anatolyevich, I believe that for the time being it is more likely that Putin's model of power will be preserved, which has beenin place for eight years and which implies a non-partisan president, or to be precise, a president who is above theparty. It is unlikely that he will join the party," he said.
Andrey Ryabov, member of the Moscow Carnegie Centre's research council, has expressed the same opinion.
"I do not rule out that the prime minister will indeed head the party and the president will prefer to followthe same political tradition as before. In my opinion, such a construction creates certain conditions for a gradualtransition to a mixed presidential-parliamentary republic," he believes.
"Such a division - the party prime minister and the president above the party - will reflect a spirit of newconstruction of the executive power," Ryabov said.