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SURVEY SHOWS RUSSIA NOT YET READY FOR WOMAN PRESIDENT

MOSCOW, March 10. (RIA Novosti)-Bashkirova & Partners, a polling company, conducted a nationwide survey in February in a bid to identify if Russians were ready to elect a woman president, writes Vremya Novostei.

The results were that almost two-thirds of Russians (63.8% - 53.3% of men and 72.5% of women) generally supported the idea of electing a woman to the Russian presidency, while 30.9% strongly opposed the idea.

The survey identified that the most popular Russian female politician is St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko, whom 21% of the respondents said they would like to see become president. This is not only because she is widely known, but also because she is Russia's sole woman governor.

Irina Khakamada, formerly an SPS head, and now the leader of a liberal party, Our Choice, came second in the virtual ladies-only presidential poll, with 10.5% of "the vote," which is probably because she ran in the last presidential election in 2004.

Ms. Khakamada was followed by Soviet female cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova (8.6%), Duma Deputy Speaker Lyubov Sliska (5.1%), and Ella Pamfilova, chairman of the presidential Human Rights Commission (4.8%).

Although 3.4% of Russians said they were willing to vote for another woman, the presidency would have still gone to Ms. Against-All who received 39% of the vote.

Even if Russian men were deprived of a right to vote, the pollsters suggest, current political attitudes would remain largely untouched. In a virtual presidential election, Vladimir Putin would gain 53.5% of Russian women's votes.