Russia President calls for political reforms

World

Russia President calls for political reforms

Close

Russian President meets representatives of political parties with opposition leader Boris Nemtsov.

21 February,2012 10:53 am

Political reforms in Russia are more important for unregistered parties than for themainstream ones, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday.In his unprecedented meeting with opposition leaders of parties that have been deniedregistration, Medvedev said time for the countrys political reforms has come.Our political system is far from being perfect. Most of those who are present here have criticized it,Medvedev said.I hope to hear supports (on the reform) from you, because the liberalization of political partiesregistration could be more important for you than for the parties which have been in political lifefor a long time, he said.After the meeting, presidential spokeswoman Natalia Timakova told reporters the Kremlin wouldconsider proposals tabled by these opposition leaders in this week.Among the proposals, the opposition demanded parties be registered without the authoritiespermission or governors nomination and that the registration procedures be simplified.The Kremlin has turned cold shoulder to some other political forces following mass rallies inMoscow and other cities that protested against alleged vote fraud in the December 4parliamentary elections last year.