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No third term for Putin in 2008
29/05/2007 12:31 - (SA)
Moscow - Russian President Vladimir Putin will not stay on for a third term in 2008, the head of Russia's upper house of parliament, and a top advocate for a third term, said on Tuesday.
"We will not be adopting any decision about a third term. The president said the discussion is closed," Federation Council chairperson Sergei Mironov told business daily Vedomosti.
Mironov, who heads the left-leaning pro-Kremlin party A Just Russia, had been the most prominent advocate for Putin to stay in office when his second term ends in March 2008.
Putin has repeatedly insisted he will abide by the constitutional limit of two consecutive terms, though he is widely expected to retain a powerful role, and is allowed under the constitution to run for re-election in 2012.
"One can only express satisfaction that the chairman of the Federation Council has understood that the president is not changing his plans, and firmly intends to hand over power in 2008," Vedomosti quoted an unnamed Kremlin source as saying.
In a survey of 1 600 Russians by state-run polling centre VTsIOM in April, 69% of Russian supported Putin's staying on for a third term, while 23% opposed it.
- AFP
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