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| Putin's KGB styled walk inside Kremlin. |
The Russians have a long history of long-term rulers, be it the Tsars who ruled from 1547-1721 or the Current President Putin in his long 15-year term. The Rulers are always notorious for their power retaining capacity and to rule with much autocracy.
After the decline of Soviet Russia in 1991, Elections took place in the New Russian Federation and the First President Boris Yeltsin and that time the current president Putin was his Prime minister. Yeltsin was known for his alcoholism and also he was a sort of unpopular leader with supports from the United States as he had promised to bring Capitalism and Democracy into Russia. But in the due process, he ended up selling government resources such as oil and gas to cope up with the rising inflation and economic instability. Though he had won another term but due to the crisis caused during his term, he resigned and his prime minister Putin succeeded as the President.
Putin was the most effective horse in the race of politics. He had served in Russian intelligence during the Soviet era and that mainly affected him in playing the role of President and oppressing the dissidents. He is known to use the tactics that no one even knows "it was in their favor and yet win by losing'.
The Elections are held in Russia which elects the Head of State or President and the Legislature. The Parliament is known as Duma and has two houses similar to other countries. The lower house has 450 members elected and the upper house has indirectly elected members. Until 2008 the terms for president were 4 years and it got moved up to a 6-year term. The Constitution also restricts the term of a president just for 2-consecutive terms. Meaning that a president can only be in the chair for 2-terms in a line, but it does not restrict the total terms of the president.
But when the Elections are kept in Russia, the Observerves from many delegations have been said to criticize the power-play of the Majority party and the President in the winning seats. European institutions who were observing the 2007 legislative elections told that it was not a fair-election, while some even said that it failed to meet the standards and commitment that other nations try to fulfill and it was not even close to fair elections. Amnesty International also quoted that the presidential election of march would not be genuine as there is no presence of opposition in the election and the pro-democracy dissidents were locked up and harassed. To some extent they also stopped the International Observation in their Elections. Though mostly in every foreign election there is the interference and influence of Russia and also the winning of Donald Trump and the loss of the candidate Hilary Clinton was one of the major operations.
Putin's play to Autocracy.
It is being said that Putin's making himself as the ruler for a lifetime. When the whole world was busy fighting against the coronavirus he proposed a constitutional amendment that resets the presidential limits to zero, meaning Putin who had both the terms to complete and with the old law he couldn't be a president but making this proposal he can contest for another term.
In other words this might be not a good idea, but it's a good idea for Russia right now. "I'll have no doubt that one day will come when the supreme presidential system in Russia will not be soo personified". But that day isn't today. This means he can rule until 2036 when he will be around 84 years of age.
Critics label his action as the theory of removing dictators as they never step away from their positions, by violently or other means it has to be thrown out. The use of the constitution and the bending nature of the law make him even easy and sounds rational to his acts. Although the United States always comes up with sanctions, Russia always stands ignorant to it and also due to the Russian influence and trade of the oil it makes the other nations difficult to point a finger towards it.
He has always jumped from the positions of President and Prime minister and has till now successfully governed it from his perspective. Though the autocracy is often criticized by the United States, they are more well-bonded with the Dictators than the elected representatives of other democracies. As the autocratic nations would be more useful to the United States than the other transparency powered nations
It seems that Putin doesn't want to empty his position for someone else and want to stay in the position of power the whole lifetime. Well who doesn't want that? But he is often understood by his Russian citizens as that he will do anything to stay in power and even if he isn't president he will rule from another position. The Russians also have thought that only a Supreme leader a type of Autocrat can only Rule and govern them, as the power of many is often divided and by the division rises in conflict and if there is a conflict between the division and execution of powers how can a nation and its citizens develop in it. They also believe that in a fully sustained democracy the leaders have to be in pressure for their upbringing of the citizens and also the opposition leaders and also to answer in all the process of judiciary and legislative. Like the impeachment trials in the United States, they believe that these types of resistance make a leaderless focused on the works and progress of the nation and its citizens.
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