The Russian president Vladimir Putin told road transport workers in Krasnoyarsk that he had decided to head the United Russia’s ticket just lacking something better. Going by what he said, the United Russia was far from being ideal, since the ‘ruling party’ had no principles, and ideology and many impostors had intruded in it. “But we have nothing better”, the president said.
According to Putin, the United Russia helped him to take and realized decisions. “It is important that lately we managed to do something and to a great extend I managed to do this because virtually I rested on the United Russia in the parliament, because there was a consolidated power which helped me both to take and realize decisions”, cited vesti.ru.
In short, the president said that the United Russia had always obediently voted for all Kremlin’s initiatives.
Putin acknowledged that as a party the United Russia was not an ideal. “Is it an ideal political structure? Certainly, no. It has no steady ideology and principles for which the majority of the party is ready to struggle and to give up its authority”, said the president. More simply Putin has acknowledged that the party was ideologically uncommitted and unprincipled.
Furthermore, according to Putin, many impostors tried to use the contiguity of the party to Kremlin and often they succeeded in it. “It (the United Russia) is close to the authority. And often different swindlers are trying to stick to such structures. Purposes of such figures are not the welfare of the people but their own enrichment. And, surely, they only compromise the government and the party”, said Putin.
“The question arises as to what for have I headed the electoral list of the United Russia”, continued the president and answered himself: “Just because it's all the same we have nothing better than it”
Taking into account that on the coming parliamentarian election for the United Russia it might be as well to receive not less than 70% Putin made quite a strange advertising to the party. However they don’t need any advertising, since all its election campaign it builds on the name of the president and on its mythical “plan”. Though Putin is not even a member of the United Russia. Well, all recent initiatives, like the appeal to the president to remain the “national leader” after 2008, creation of an All-Russian movement “For Putin” and a forum of the party scheduled on 21 November where Putin will be asked to head the party -- all this activity can be attributed to this. At the same time the United Russia acknowledges that by all this activity they want to make to vote for them those people who like Putin but don’t like the party.
It seems that Putin either don’t like all this. At least he admits it by implication, telling that he has decided to head the ticket of the party “regardless to all hardships, including that for me personally”. For example, the communist leader Gennady Zyuganov considers that the idea about the “national leader” is a disservice to the president. “It can compromise even that good which he has partly managed to do. They do a big foolishness, which will cause big consequences. The USSR has not managed to stand fast on one left leg, but they want to keep the balance standing on a single right one”, said Zyuganov.
Nevertheless Putins considers that one should vote for the United Russia. De facto he admits that the voting will become a referendum on the confidence to him personally; and that the United Russia in this case is just a tool, but not a self-dependent political power. “If people vote for the United Russia that will mean that they trust me. And that mean that I will obtain a moral right to make all the Duma and the government responsible for realization of the decisions which are scheduled now”, told he.
“I’ll yet refrain from the direct answer in what form this will be, but there are some variants. And if this happen, the result which I reckon on; then, I’ll get such an opportunity”, said the president.
