Popular Front is only the beginning – Medvedev
President Dmitry Medvedev has said that the creation of Popular Front, initiated by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, is within the law and also called on other political forces to take active part in the parliamentary election campaign.
The Russian leader made his comments during a visit to the headquarters of VGTRK, the largest state television and radio broadcast company, on the occasion of its 20th anniversary on air.“I understand the motivation of the party which wants to restore its influence in the country. The creation of such an alliance is part of the election technology,” he said in response to journalists’ questions. “But I believe that other political structures, blocs and parties will try to take a most active part in the electoral campaign.”"My task is to make sure that the law is applied correctly, and to create the necessary competition on the political field within the country," he said. "Only in this case will our political system become stable.”He went on to say that "no political force can consider itself dominant but should always aspire for maximum success,” adding that many interesting political events are in store for us and that “the creation of the Popular Front is only the beginning of the political season.”Earlier on Thursday, Vladimir Putin said the president supports the creation of the All-Russia Popular Front movement, which is projected to bring together political parties, trade unions, youth and women’s organizations and Afghan war veterans, the prime minister told a meeting with United Russia. Since then the idea has received a lot of public attention and has been widely discussed by major politicians, political analysts and journalists. The prime minister believes that such a wide coalition is one of the keys to victory for the majority United Russia party in the upcoming election on December 4. Meanwhile, during his visit to VGTRK, Medvedev congratulated the company on its anniversary and noted its role for Russians.“Despite new technologies, the major part of our people learn about Russian and international news by switching on their television sets,” he said. “Your mission as absolutely necessary.”
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