Vladimir Putin: Likely to seek re-election

RUSSIAN Prime Minister Vladimir Putin yesterday invited motorists, home owners and charity volunteers to join a movement which should help his United Russia party win a parliamentary election later this year.

Putin, Russia’s most popular politician despite formally being second in command to his hand-picked successor President Dmitry Medvedev, met activists in the ancient city of Pskov in western Russia.

“I would like United Russia to come to life again,” Putin told activists who applied for membership of his All-Russian People’s Front, a movement meant to link his party to other forces from civil society.

Putin, who may seek re-election as president in 2012, wants the United Russia party to maintain a two-third majority in parliament. The party has been losing ground recently.

Critics have likened United Russia to the Soviet Communist Party and say the party, whose members are often implicated in corruption and criminal scandals, may become a drag on Putin’s re-election bid.

Kremlin’s chief ideologue, Vladislav Surkov, has advised Putin to reach out beyond the party’s usual cohort of loyal bureaucrats and make contact with more “dynamic” people.

The first meetings of the new front’s leadership were attended only by functionaries from United Russia and associated organisations, leading critics to say the movement was stillborn.

United Russia responded by saying it was ready to give up to 150 places on its election party list to members of the new front, effectively luring supporters with the prospect of parliament membership.

* Reuters