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    December 22, 2011

Russian President Proposes Political Reform in National Speech

   VOA News

   Russian President Dmitry Medvedev proposed new political reforms
   Thursday, following recent protests by thousands of demonstrators over
   allegations of election fraud.
   During his last state of the nation address in Moscow, Medvedev said
   Russia needs a democracy that allows each citizen to participate in the
   political process, but without outside interference.
   He has also proposed easing requirements on registration for political
   parties. He said he supports a proposal under consideration by Prime
   Minister Vladimir Putin that allows direct election of governors
   pending the approval of candidates by the Kremlin.
   Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin have opposed repeating the December 4
   parliamentary.
   One day after parliamentary elections that international observers and
   opposition leaders said were fraudulent, thousands of protesters turned
   out in Moscow to denounce Prime Minister Putin and his United Russia
   party.
   Despite winning the most seats in the State Duma, the lower house, the
   party that has dominated Russian politics for more than a decade took
   less than 50 percent of the vote and now holds only 238 of the 450
   parliamentary seats. In the last election, in 2007, United Russia won
   64 percent of the vote.
   Putin has tried the quell the anger as he prepares to run for president
   in March. He says web cameras will be installed at polling stations in
   apparent effort to demonstrate transparency at the polls.

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