Medvedev says officials in Putin's party abusing power
Sunday November 22 2009
Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev yesterday harshly criticised officials in the ruling Kremlin-backed party for abusing their positions to win elections, saying the party must learn to win fairly.
Mr Medvedev's statement was the strongest criticism yet of the United Russia party led by his predecessor and mentor, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
United Russia controls parliament and serves as a power base for Mr Putin, who has not ruled out a return to the presidency in 2012.
While unusually direct, Mr Medvedev's statement appeared to be an attempt to respond to public criticism of the vote rather than a challenge to Mr Putin.
Speaking before a major party meeting in St Petersburg, also attended by Prime Minister Putin, Mr Medvedev accused some of United Russia's regional branches of using their dominance and official connections to shape the election results in their favour. He urged the party to "free itself of such people and shed such bad political habits".
"Elections must express the people's will in free competition between ideas and programmes, but they turn into a different story when democratic procedures are mixed with administrative ones," he said.
Most top federal and regional officials in Russia are United Russia members, and the opposition has accused the party of vote-rigging.
Independent election observers have also cited mass electoral violations in October's local elections.
- IRINA TITOVA
Sunday Independent
