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Moscow Times
September 30, 2004
Bill Lets Putin Hire and Fire Governors
By Anatoly Medetsky
Staff Writer
President Vladimir Putin will be able to hire and fire regional leaders and disband regional legislatures that reject his nominees more than once, according to a Kremlin-sponsored bill submitted to the State Duma this week.
In interviews published Wednesday, officials in Putin's retinue sought to talk up the bill, which scraps the popular vote for regional leaders and is a key plank in Putin's plan to strengthen the executive chain of command in response to the latest terrorist attacks.
The bill allows Putin to select and nominate a candidate for consideration by regional lawmakers, Interfax reported. If the lawmakers reject the candidate, Putin could nominate the same person again or offer a new candidate. After a second rejection, Putin could appoint an acting governor, disband the legislature, or both.
The president would have the right to fire governors, Interfax said.
Allegations of wrongdoing by prosecutors is cause for dismissal, Kommersant reported Wednesday.
Regional lawmakers also could seek a governor's dismissal by passing a no-confidence vote with a two-thirds majority. But the vote would not necessarily lead to the governor's sacking, Kommersant said.
The bill does not specify how many terms a governor could serve. Current legislation limits governors elected after 1999 to two terms. As is currently the case, regional leaders must be at least 30 years old, and a single term in office cannot exceed five years.
The regional leaders, however, will gain additional powers, including the responsibility of overseeing the local branches of federal agencies.
Most governors will come from their respective regions, but nominees might also hail from Moscow, said Vladislav Surkov, deputy head of presidential administration, Interfax reported.
The bill is expected to sail through the Kremlin-controlled State Duma this fall.
Nevertheless, Surkov and Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov promoted it and the other sweeping reforms to the election system in interviews published Wednesday.
The proposed system of gubernatorial elections "will allow us ... to adapt the state mechanism to the extreme conditions of the unannounced war" against terror, Surkov said in Komsomolskaya Pravda.
Surkov brushed aside allegations that Putin wants to increase his power. "Putin strengthens the state, not himself," he said. "His current authority is high enough, and he has no problems in relations with regional leaders."
If the bill is passed, all regional leaders will be picked under the new system by 2009, Surkov said.
In an apparent response to international criticism that the change would be a retreat from democracy, Surkov said Putin would have to coordinate his nominations with the opposition in regional legislatures because United Russia controls only 17 of them.
United Russia has said, however, that it intends to control most of the legislatures in the country's 89 regions by the end of the year -- a goal that analysts call more than feasible.
Gryzlov told Izvestia that in addition to fighting terrorism, the latest presidential initiatives could help stamp out corruption in regional administrations. "An unacceptably high percentage" of governors in the past 13 years focused on "protecting the interests of their companies or dominating a region with their relatives," he said.
Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov said Wednesday that the changes could improve the country's economy, political system and national security.
However, one Kremlin official, Putin's economic adviser Andrei Illarionov, offered some criticism Monday. Asked by a reporter about the moves, he said there are different types of democracy in the world. Pushed further, he added, "My view is that competition is better than a monopoly in all areas and all places. I don't know of any examples in life, either economic or other, where in the long term a monopoly is more effective than competition."
Staff Writer Guy Faulconbridge contributed to this report.