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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday proposed radical changes to the electoral systems of the country's parliament and regional governments in a bid to strengthen the Kremlin's control over the country's political regime.
During an expanded cabinet meeting with ministers, regional governors and top security and military officials, the president recommended imposing a fully proportional representation election system for Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, the Interfax news agency reported.
The step, which means representatives to the Duma will be elected solely on a party-list basis, would abolish individual representatives who currently hold half the chamber's seats, so increasing the pro-Kremlin faction's clout.
This faction currently enjoys an overwhelming majority along with its allies in the legislature.
In addition, Putin said that he would introduce a bill by the end of the year in which the heads of regional governments -- on the recommendation of the head of state -- will be chosen by local legislatures instead of by a popular vote.
The president stressed that the fight against terrorism must be a national concern and adopting the proportional representation election system would provide political parties with more opportunities to achieve this goal.
People had shown their resolve and high level of public and personal responsibility in combating terrorism and it was now the duty of the authorities to help the public counter the terrorism threat, Putin said.
He pointed out that the mechanism of the state authority must be "radically revised" from one of crisis response to crisis prevention.
"State authority must be adjusted to work not only in crisis situations. The mechanism of its work must be radically reviewed in order to prevent crises," Putin was cited by Interfax as saying.
Russia has suffered a string of terror attacks over the past three weeks. The explosions of two airliners and a suicide bombing near a metro station in Moscow late last month left some 100 people dead. More than 330 people, half of them children, were killed in the hostage-taking crisis early this month in a southern Russian school.
Shortly after the end of the three-day school siege in the North Ossetian town of Beslan, Putin promised that an expanded range of measures will be taken to strengthen the country's unity and security, including building up "an effective anti-crisis system."
(Xinhua News Agency September 14, 2004)
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