Today at a meeting with United Russia legislators, Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian Prime Minister, and the United Russia Chairman spoke against dissolution of the State Duma, stating that “it would present a danger for our state”. The Prime Minister believes that the upcoming elections set for September 8 will show “whether the Russian people” need United Russia.
At the meeting with the United Russians in the Duma, the Chairman of the party, Dmitri Medvedev, stated that the State Duma should not be dissolved. “Legitimately elected legislative power should exercise its authority over the period it’s been elected for. Anything else would be very dangerous for our state.” The premier’s position was echoed by the Speaker of the Duma, Sergei Naryshkin. He recalled that, during the time of the sixth convocation, signatures were collected to dissolve the Duma. “We were faced with the political misconceptions of those who thought that we could do without the parliament, just by communicating with each other,” the Speaker said. He expressed confidence that the State Duma would complete its term that expires in 2016. In return Mr. Medvedev thanked the faction for “productive” collaboration with the government “on the most complex issues.” “We have to admit that we’ve had to deal with a lot of different things, but in any case, by holding our meetings we could coordinate actions by the government and the parliamentary faction of the United Russia, as evidenced by the results of this session,” he noted. Dmitri Medvedev is confident that it was largely due to the support by the United Russia faction that the State Duma “passed 262 bills, of which exactly half – 131 bills – were submitted by the government.”
Medvedev also reminded the deputies about the upcoming elections set for September 8 (8 regional governors and 16 regional legislative assemblies will be elected). “That is a test for any party structure, for any party. For our party it is a double test for obvious reasons,” the United Russia leader stressed. “When a party doesn’t mean much for the country, that is either an opportunity to get noticed, or just to confirm once again that the people do not need that party.” However, the Prime Minister said that the elections very much depend not only on the candidates, but on party leadership as well. Their task is to “help the candidates to come up with the most precise and compelling arguments in order to win the elections.” However, according to the Prime Minister, the candidates must be “very convincing.”