The head of the main pro-Kremlin party said on Thursday it would push its own candidates for Russia's next cabinet, reviving President Vladimir Putin's idea of having a government that reflected who controls parliament.
Boris Gryzlov's comments appeared to advance moves by Putin, big favourite to win a second Kremlin term in a March 14 election, that might end up reshaping Russia's political structure along western European lines.
Analysts, however, were divided on whether Putin, in spite of raising the idea originally, would accept any altered system that would weaken the office of president, who now appoints all members of the government.
Election officials, meanwhile, disqualified one of a handful of potential presidential challengers to Putin - former central banker Viktor Gerashchenko who sought to represent the leftist and nationalist Motherland (Rodina) bloc.
Gerashchenko, credited with getting the rouble back on track after the 1998 financial meltdown, was barred from the race on grounds he represented only part of Motherland.
He therefore needed two million signatures to run as an independent. So far only two rival candidates have met the stringent conditions for registration, neither of them very well known.
The idea of a government formed on the basis of a majority in parliament was raised by Putin last year. Discussion began in earnest after the pro-Kremlin United Russia party won 300 of 450 seats in the State Duma lower house in December polls.
"Now that our party has the parliamentary majority, it will offer candidates for the next cabinet," Gryzlov, who has taken over the job of Duma speaker, told reporters.
Konstantin Kosachyov, a senior United Russia member, said the notion would require changes to Russia's constitution.
"The current position of the United Russia is that we should refrain from changing the constitution now," Kosachyov said.
"But if we found the way to give the parliamentary majority a stronger say in forming the government, such a cabinet would benefit the whole nation." Putin says he has no plans for a constitutional overhaul.
Russia's first post-Soviet president Boris Yeltsin insisted on the right to form governments, saying involvement by the multi-party Duma would reduce the cabinet to a talking shop.
Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, a former Yeltsin loyalist, must under current rules tender his government's resignation after the presidential poll.
One theory by analysts says Putin, who will be only 57 when he completes his second term, might use United Russia's clout to change the basis of who controls and nominates the government and make Russia a parliamentary republic.
That would turn the position of parliamentary majority leader, eligible for any number of terms, into Russia's most influential statesman and make the presidency a ceremonial post.
Other analysts say Putin, Russia's most popular politician, may tighten his grip on the cabinet by appointing a close ally as prime minister after the election, such as Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov, who could later become his hand-picked successor.
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