Russia Moves Towards Modern, Developed Political System - Medvedev
file photoYEKATERINBURG. Nov 28 (Interfax) - Russia has a stronger and more developed political system now than it had in the 1990s, President Dmitry Medvedev told reporters from the Urals Federal District on Monday.
"I think that our party system has become stronger in recent years. It's not just about United Russia, which is the strongest and largest party that makes political weather, but in general," he said. The existing political parties have their own programs, structures, financial sources and dedicated supporters, Medvedev explained.
"This does not mean they will exist forever... ... In my opinion, various flows will still be taking place inside our political system anyway: the left will get stronger, the right will restructure themselves, the center, in this case United Russia, will also undergo some changes... ... Everything changes in this life," the president said.
He stressed that the existing party system "is more developed than in the middle or the end of the 1990s".
Russia has parties with a pronounced ideological component as the Communists, for example, whose supporters vote for party ideology, rather than party leaders, Medvedev said. He added that "the same could be said about Right Cause".
"I think that the existence of parties associated with the left flank or the right flank or the center will still matter to us for a long time in the future. Perhaps it will not be so in a hundred or fifty years, but today it still isn't our choice", Medvedev concluded.
