Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev succeeded President Vladimir Putin as
head of the ruling party, United Russia, in a follow up to their job
swap in the Kremlin.
Mr. Putin stepped down as the party’s chairman following his return to
the presidency earlier this month. He argued that President in Russia by
tradition is not affiliated with any party.
United Russia, which has dominated the Russian Parliament since its
establishment in 2003, has recently been losing support. It lost a
quarter of its seats in Parliament in December elections, which were
marred with massive falsifications and sparked the biggest anti-Kremlin
protests in 20 years.
Mr. Medvedev called for democratisation of the ruling party to enable it
to deal with the growing competition from other political forces.
“The party must be more open, it must be seen by people as their own,
not as a party imposed from high up… but as a party representing the
interests of the broad masses,” Mr. Medvedev told a party congress on May 26.
He said all party functionaries must henceforth be elected by contested
secret ballot and be replaced after five years. Mr. Medvedev himself was
elected unopposed by a show of hands.
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