#6347 Day in progress
[Second Issue of the Day]
#13
Financial Times (UK)
10 July 2002
Russian court extends terms of office
By Robert Cottrell in Moscow
A ruling yesterday by Russia's constitutional court means that many of the country's powerful provincial leaders will be able to serve third consecutive terms in office, and some even fourth terms, despite a two-term limit fixed in law.
The ruling was criticised by aleading liberal politician, Irina Khakamada, who said it would "slam the door on the current generation of younger politicians who ought to be emerging in the provinces".
But Igor Bunin, a political scientist, said any other decision would have brought "chaos" to several important regions by provoking sudden battles for succession.
The court upheld a law passed by the Russian parliament in 1999, which fixed general rules for provincial elections in Russia, including a two-term limit for the country's 89 provincial leaders. These include the mayor of Moscow, the governor of Saint Petersburg, the presidents of 21 ethnic republics, and the governors of 66 regions. The standard term is four or five years.
But the court also agreed with the parliament that the terms should be counted only from October 1999 when the law came into force.
Some leaders, such as Mintimer Shaimiev, president of Tatarstan, have run successfully for third terms since the law was passed. Others are likely to follow suit.
The constitutional court also said yesterday that special rules applied in 24 regions where local parliaments had fixed a two-term limit for governors before the 1999 national law took effect. In these regions, the court said, the local parliaments could decide to allow more than two terms.
The news came amid signs that President Vladimir Putin wants more power over local leaders.
On Monday, angered by poverty he saw in the Volga region, Mr Putin said Russia needed a means for "dismissing people who let such a situation develop". It also needed a "mechanism for crisis management by the federal centre".
Mr Putin has powers to dismiss governors, but only in cases where they are personally suspected of serious crimes or where a region persistently violates a federal law.
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