Putin Elected When Can Putin Run Again in 2018
Russian President Vladimir Putin told lawmakers on Tuesday that he supports a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow him to seek two more terms and remain in power. Alexei Nikolsky/AP hide explanation
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Alexei Nikolsky/AP
Russian President Vladimir Putin told lawmakers on Tuesday that he supports a proposed constitutional amendment that would permit him to seek two more terms and remain in power.
Alexei Nikolsky/AP
Updated at 6:25 a.g. ET Wednesday
Russia's lower house of parliament on Wednesday approved a ramble amendment to allow President Vladimir Putin — already the country's longest-serving leader since Josef Stalin — to extend his rule until 2036.
Lawmakers in the State Duma voted 383 to 0 in favor of the amendment, with 43 abstentions. Putin said on Tuesday that Russia's Constitutional Court would take to rule on whether the move would contradict Russian law. Putin's critics take said approval by the court is all-but certain.
The constitutional amendment proposed by lawmaker and one-time cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova — who gained fame in 1963 every bit the outset adult female in space — resets the current term limits, which limit Russian presidents to two consecutive six-yr terms. Russians are scheduled to vote on the proposed amendment on April 22 in a nationwide constitutional plebiscite.
Putin spoke to lawmakers at the State Duma on Tuesday about what such a alter would hateful for the hereafter of presidential ability in Russia.
It'south important, he said, for a president to ensure the land'southward "evolutionary evolution." At present, he said, is not the fourth dimension to move likewise apace to alter how Russian state power operates: "We take had enough revolutions."
"I have no doubt that the day volition come when the supreme, presidential power in Russian federation will non be so personified, if I may say so, that it will not exist connected to a certain individual," Putin added. "But this is exactly how it was in our previous history, and we must take this into account."
Putin told lawmakers on Tuesday that he did not endorse completely eliminating presidential term limits, one element of the proposal by Tereshkova. But he strongly backed the idea of resetting the number of terms for which he could run.
In his appeal to parliament, Putin too pointed to other countries that have no restrictions on presidential terms. Even in the United States, he said, the two-term limit has only been in place since the 22nd Subpoena was ratified in 1951.
The Peachy Depression, economic dubiety, unemployment and Earth State of war II all called for persistent leadership in the U.Southward., Putin said, referring to President Franklin Roosevelt'south four terms. Equally Russian federation is likewise undergoing upheaval and difficulty, "stability may be more important and must be given priority," he said, especially "when a state withal has many problems."
Russia watchers, who have long assumed Putin would seek to retain ability after his current term expires in 2024, were not surprised.
"The Russian system has been existing under this perpetual question mark of 'what is Putin going to do?' " Fiona Hill, President Trump'southward onetime top Russia adviser, told NPR's Mary Louise Kelly.
Many observers thought Putin might take on a different role that would let him maintain influence – like Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei or Republic of kazakhstan's start president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, who now chairs the state's security quango and holds the title "leader of the nation." There was talk of having Putin lead the country's Land Council, which would be strengthened, with the presidency becoming more than of a symbolic position.
Ultimately, the Kremlin decided to simply change the presidential term limits so that Putin could maintain command, Loyola University Chicago professor Michael Khodarkovsky told NPR.
"The Kremlin is searching for means to keep Putin in power," Khodarkovsky said. "Putin and his inner circumvolve seem to take decided that the way to practice it is to eliminate term limits and permit Putin to run once again. It would be inconceivable for Putin to lose."
The 67-year-old Putin has ruled Russian federation for more than xx years, serving every bit both president and prime minister. His current presidential term is set to expire in 2024; should he run once again, Putin would be 83 when the next term limit runs out in 2036. "My own feeling," said Khodarkovsky, "is that Putin wants to beat Stalin, who ruled for almost 30 years."
"Putin will stay in power and in his present position for life," said Dmitri Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Heart. "As for the hereafter of Russian commonwealth, nosotros will need to await till afterwards Putin passes from the stage."
"Putin has get the wild card in his own arrangement," Hill said. "If he goes, it seems destabilizing. And this seems like an effort to kind of put off the inevitable. He surely won't live forever."
Source: https://www.npr.org/2020/03/10/814090121/putin-could-stay-president-until-2036-under-new-proposal
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