Russian political system needs “some modification” says new party leader

BBC Monitoring

Businessman Mikhail Prokhorov, who was today elected leader of the Right Cause party, has said the least his party is aiming for is to get in the State Duma and the most is to get about 15 per cent of the vote.

At a news conference following his election as the party leader, Prokhorov said he had a negative attitude to the One Russia ruling party. At the same time, Prokhorov said, Vladimir Putin, Russian prime minister and the leader of One Russia, must have become more critical of his party too, otherwise he would not have set up the All-Russia People’s Front.

“Had things been going well for One Russia, one would not have set up People’s Front,” Prokhorov said in an interview to the “Vesti on Saturday” programme on the official Rossiya 1 TV channel on the same day.

According to Interfax, Prokhorov said he was not going to join People’s Front. “I don’t have any particular attitude to People’s Front and I am not going to join it. We will go our own way as one classic author put it,” he told the news conference, citing Vladimir Lenin.

Asked at the news conference whether he would leave Right Cause if Putin asked him to do so, Prokhorov replied: “I come from the real world. I don’t believe hypothesis.”

On Right Cause political platform

“The existing [political] system needs some modification,” Prokhorov told Rossiya 1. He explained: “Deputies elected in single-seat constituencies should make up 25 per cent of seats in the State Duma. There should be elections of city mayors and of local self-government, including the mayors of Moscow and St Petersburg. I also propose that low-level judges, police chiefs and possibly even tax collectors and prosecutors should be elected. This will enable the authorities to be closer to their citizens.”

Asked whether he was in opposition to President Medvedev, Prokhorov replied: “I am not in opposition to anyone. I have my own views on things and the party will have its own programme for which, I hope, our citizens will vote.”

Prokhorov said it was time to abolish presidential plenipotentiary envoys in federal districts. According to him, “the institution of plenipotentiary representatives has fulfilled its role”.

“What about your friend Sasha [short for Aleksandr] Khloponin, with whom you were students together and who is now a plenipotentiary representative?” Sergey Brilev, presenter of “Vesti on Saturday”, asked.

“This is an exception,” Prokhorov replied, “and not because he is my friend but because he is dealing with North Caucasus which has special conditions and which needs a plenipotentiary representative.”

On 2012 presidential elections

Talking about the 2012 presidential election, Prokhorov said that, to a large extent, it would depend on the party’s achievement at the election to the State Duma in December whether his party would put forward its own candidate.

He did not reply to the question whom in particular Right Cause might support at the presidential election. “It is not a question of the name of the person we will support but of the programme he will put forward,” Prokhorov said.

On prime minister’s post

The Right Cause leader said it could not be ruled out that under certain circumstances he might agree to become prime minister of Russia. “If there is support on the part of our citizens and if I am asked (to become prime minister), I will agree,” Prokhorov told the news conference, according to Interfax.

“If we achieve a decent result at the coming election [to the State Duma], the party might take part in forming a coalition government,” Prokhorov told Rossiya 1. “In principle, the job of prime minister would be of interest to me,” he added.

On political competition

In the same interview, Prokhorov said: “In any democratic system there should be at least two main parties. If there is one party, this is political monopoly, which is our main opponent.”

Asked about his attitude to the Party of People’s Freedom (Parnas), which has been refused registration recently, Prokhorov replied that “registration should be abolished” altogether, according to Interfax. He added that one of the founders of Parnas, Boris Nemtsov, was a friend of his.

People who want to set up political parties should be able to do so. All they have to do is to notify the authorities about their intention, Prokhorov said in the “Vesti on Saturday” interview.

Asked about the difference between his party and Parnas, Prokhorov replied: “There should be parties that [not only] say that something is bad but propose what needs to be done – this is the difference between us.”

On Right Cause electorate

In the “Vesti on Saturday” interview, asked who – businessmen or the intelligentsia – Right Cause saw as its electorate, Prokhorov replied: “Neither. We are appealing to family providers, to men and women who every day take decisions for themselves, for their parents and children, and, in general, for the country’s future because every day they take responsible decisions – these people are our electorate. As well as young people who want to have an opportunity to participate in deciding their future and to have social lifts.”

On land ownership, privatization

Prokhorov supported private land ownership. “People who work on land should own it,” he said. “Also, we have a lot of land that has been abandoned. I would give it free to citizens in private ownership,” he added.

Asked whether he felt guilty about the privatization of the 1990s as a result of which he had become a very rich man, Prokhorov replied: “Absolutely not. It was not me who had drawn up the privatization programme. I took part in it. The conditions were equal for everyone. And I am proud to say that, had there been no privatization, companies such as Norilskiy Nikel [Norilsk Nickel] would not have been as strong as it is now because we rescued it from the terrible management it had had before.”

On Khodorkovskiy, Magnitskiy

In the “Vesti on Saturday” interview, asked about the former head of the Yukos oil company, Mikhail Khodorkovskiy, who is serving a 13-year sentence for embezzlement and money laundering, Prokhorov replied: “We have legislation, irrespective of whether it is good or bad. We should act in line with the law. [Under the law] Khodorkovskiy has the right to parole, and I can see no reasons why he can’t use this right.”

Prokhorov promised that his party would try to find out what had led to the death of Sergey Magnitskiy, a lawyer who worked for Hermitage Capital. “As regards the Magnitskiy case, there are no words to describe it. This is connected with our legal system. Not a single man has answered for it – this is outrageous,” Prokhorov told the news conference, according to Interfax. “We will definitely try to sort this out,” he promised.

Sergey Magnitskiy, who was 37, died in the Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention centre on 16 November 2009. He was facing charges of tax evasion under Article 199 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. займ онлайн hairy woman female wrestling https://zp-pdl.com/online-payday-loans-in-america.php https://zp-pdl.com/fast-and-easy-payday-loans-online.php займы без отказа