Putin: Victory will give me moral right to retain influence

RUSSIA’S President Vladimir Putin yesterday said a convincing victory for the party he is leading in next month’s parliamentary elections would give him the “moral right” to maintain strong influence after he steps down next year.

Mr Putin’s remarks in Siberia were the clearest affirmation yet he plans to keep a powerful hold on Russia’s reins, but he stopped short of saying whether he would seek a formal role.

Mr Putin said last month he would lead the dominant party’s ticket in the December 2 elections to the State Duma, the lower house of parliament. The decision appeared aimed at boosting the United Russia party’s chances and ensuring himself a power base when term limits force him from office next year.

“If the people vote for United Russia, it means a clear majority of the people put their trust in me, and in turn that means I will have the moral right to hold those in the Duma and the cabinet responsible for the implementation of the tasks that have been set as of today,” said Mr Putin while drinking tea with workers at a road construction site in Krasnoyarsk, a vast Siberian region that reaches beyond the Arctic Circle.

“In what form I will do this, I cannot yet give an answer. But various possibilities exist,” said Mr Putin, in response to a question from a construction worker who asked what he would do after he leaves office and why he had decided to lead the United Russia ticket.

“If the result is the one I am counting on, I will have this opportunity.”

In the parliamentary elections, voters will choose only among parties, not individuals. Seats are allocated proportionally to parties that receive at least 7% of the vote. The people who lead party tickets do notalways take seats in parliament and the Kremlin has said Mr Putin has no intention of doing so. Since Mr Putin agreed to head the United Russia ticket, the party has cast the election as a referendum on the president and the course he has set for the country.

Mr Putin, who is immensely popular, but barred by the constitution from seeking a third straight term in the March 2008 presidential election, has indicated he hopes to remain influential after stepping down and has not ruled out a bid to return to the Kremlin in 2012.