Medvedev to ease election rules, wants own party

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev proposed a bill on Friday that would make it easier for smaller parties to win parliamentary seats in 2016 elections, and signalled plans to create his own political movement. The two initiatives could help Medvedev if, as many expect, he stepped aside to enable Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to return to the Kremlin in next year's presidential election but sought another term for himself in 2018.
The new election rules would cut the share of the popular vote needed for a party to enter parliament to 5 percent from the current 7 percent. The change would not affect this December's parliamentary election but would apply to the next one in 2016.
Only four parties - United Russia, Just Russia, the Communists and the nationalist LDPR - are represented in the 450-seat State Duma, the lower house. United Russia, led by Putin, holds more than two-thirds of the seats, enough to make changes to the constitution.
"All political forces that have significant popular support should be represented in the parliament," Medvedev said in an interview published on Friday in the daily Moskovskiye Novosti.
"It does not mean that fringe elements should be present in the Duma as well. This is why we have the barrier. But 7 percent is too much, while 5 percent is a more realistic threshold. If that is too much we will make it 3 percent," he said. The decision to lower the threshold is likely to benefit liberal parties which appeal to a growing middle class seen as Medvedev's potential power base. One such is Right Cause, which tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov is expected to lead.
Medvedev, who has courted support with calls to diversify and modernise Russia's economy, is not a member of any political party. In the interview, he indicated he would create or lead one in the future. "Not only I do not rule it out but I think that sooner or later it will happen. What party will it be? Allow me to refrain from answering this question," Medvedev said. Medvedev's bill and remarks suggest he may be positioning himself for a bid to return to the presidency in 2018 if his mentor Putin, backed by United Russia, decides to run for president in an election next March. Medvedev, 45, and Putin, 58, have hinted one of them - but not both - will contest that vote. President from 2000-2008, Putin raised the State Duma vote threshold to 7 percent from 5 percent in 2005 and abolished single-mandate constituencies.