http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66699
President of Russia Vladimir Putin:
Citizens of Russia, friends,
In the next few days, on September 17, 18 and 19, we are going to elect deputies to the State Duma.
The election of a new legislature is a vital event in the life of our society, our country. All of us are equally interested in electing responsible, energetic and respected members of parliament, who can keep their word, fulfil your requests and their promises and live up to the hopes and trust of the citizens of Russia.
I would like to emphasise that the ultimate essence of elections is the expression of their will by the people of Russia as the main source of power and the implementation of the citizens’ constitutional right to determine the development course of our country, which all of us want to be sovereign and prosperous.
We will need to do a great deal together, and the implementation of our plans depends in great measure on the efficient and competent work of the State Duma. It is one of the main bodies in the system of state power in Russia. It plays the main role in the law-making process, in adopting laws that have the highest legal power in protecting human rights and interests.
The federal budget, the country’s fundamental financial document, which the parliament adopts as well, creates the basis for implementing the state’s social guarantees, support programmes for families with children, regional development plans, and the development of cities and towns across our vast country.
It is an extremely challenging and painstaking job that has no place for populism or empty rhetoric. It calls for top professionalism and implies a clear awareness that every decision and legislative amendment can influence the lives of millions.
Under the renewed Constitution of Russia, the State Duma enjoys the crucial power of approving the candidacies of the Prime Minister, his deputies and federal ministers. I will be honest with you: a great deal will depend in future on the constructive and functional interaction between the legislative and executive branches of power.
The modern world is a complicated place. We can see that it is changing rapidly and sometimes unpredictably. This certainly poses new challenges, but also offers new, broad opportunities. To be able to rise up to these challenges and make efficient use of the new opportunities, we need well-coordinated teamwork by the state, society and citizens. We need a strong and respected parliament, so that the deputies of the new State Duma act in the interests of Russia and our people and work for the people, so that we can rely on them as the true patriots of Russia who are ready to resolutely and consistently guarantee our national interests in all spheres.
Friends,
I ask you to take part in the upcoming voting, choosing one of the days that suit you most, starting September 17, to come to the polling stations or to use the option of remote e-voting. Its safety and reliability are guaranteed by up-to-date technology.
I count on you to take a responsible, substantiated and patriotic civil position, on your desire to elect the deputies who will work for the benefit and in the interests of our beloved Motherland, in the interests of the entire nation and each citizen of Russia.
Please, make your choice.
Rooting for Zyuganov, united russia economic liberals did a lot of damage with the pensions reforms
“united russia economic liberals did a lot of damage with the pensions reforms”
The life-expectancy, especially of men, has increased dramatically over the past 20 years in Russia. In order to keep the pension system solvent, it was necessary to also increase the years of work.
What do you prefer, these are the real choices:
1- A much shorter lifespan with early retirement.
2- A normal lifespan with retirement at a reasonable age.
In the fake democracies of the West, they resorted to negative or zero interest rates in order to keep their economies functioning. The problem with that is that the pensions have been destroyed. This will eventually lead to collapse. Many think that the collapse will be blamed on the virus scam. Others think that the only option is to go on to a Universal Basic Income since the pensions are gone.
Sorry, that is a neoliberal spin par excellence, invented from Big Finance to get access to the giant sums of the pension systems all over the world and transform them into individual Stock Exchange Portfolio. Yes, we get older, even though the Younger Generations maybe not any more because they live much more whith Junk Food, permanent high stress level and less sports, but regarding the pensions there is also important not to forget the significant productivity improvements over the decades to balance this if paid exclusively from production and labor. So there is also 3- a longer life and an earlier retirement age.
Unfortunately even if Russia under Putin plays the Anti US in geopolitics, in economics und social welfare the differences are less visible. Maybe there is the need to get some degree of autonomy from the US and the globalism of the 1 percent to implement not neoliberal welfare politics. But sooner or later that has to be done If it is really on the agenda.
Mr Putin says that the job of government “has no place for populism”. Populism is a political approach that strives to appeal to ordinary people who feel that their concerns are disregarded by established elite groups. Why is Mr Putin so hostile to such an approach? I am genuinely interested in other’s views.
Leo 2, please choose a different username. “Leo” is already taken. Thanks, — The Mods
Brazil is currently under right-wing populism, which has destroyed the country in favor of the ruling class. In the recent past, Brazil was under the command of left-wing populism; which started the process of national destruction in favor of the ruling class. Populism is a disgrace; with its tokens placed on mass ignorance, fostered by the cultural industry, which feeds populism.
Leo, you are alienated. As Pepe says, Lula did good to Brazil and was boycotted. You were brainwashed by netflix and hollywood. I don’t know why you are here on the blog.
Populism in politics is just “used car salesmanship”.
“Populism is a political approach that strives to appeal to ordinary people who feel that their concerns are disregarded by established elite groups.”
It is your assumption that this is what Mr. Putin was speaking of.
Putin is speaking to Russians who are familiar with their domestic politics, not Americans who’s concept of what Putin is talking about is abstract conjecture, as is yours. If I had to guess I would assume he is talking about the Navalni crowd (as tiny as it is in real life) and/or the pro-western liberals. Those are just my guesses, but in any case I think Putin is referring to the context of the current Russian political arena and not populism as an abstract concept in and of itself.
I made no “assumptions” nor “conjectures”. I simply asked a question, in the hope that those much more knowledgeable about the situation in Russia might be able to enlighten me as to what Mr Putin meant and intended. So many mind readers here, confident in their telepathic abilities. Best wishes.
@Sarcophilus. Populism is a political approach that **pretends** to appeal to ordinary people and may give them a few bribes, but always installs agents of the Plutocracy. From a learned article:
“Consider the case of Publius Clodius Pulcher, better known simply as Clodius, one of Ancient Rome’s best loved bad guys. He was a social rascal, scandalously promiscuous. Gaining notoriety in 62 BCE when he gate-crashed a solemn religious festival, he then became one of the most violent and politically dangerous leaders of a populist faction that engineered the exile from Rome of the most ardent defender of the Republic: Cicero. He went on to terrorize the streets of Rome with his private militia. Clodius was born into a rich, powerful, established, patrician family. But his political project also included laws that made the distribution of grain in the city entirely free.”
Has he changed or amended the Constitution for this occasion too just to ensure even more democracy in Russia?
Ike
IMHO the presidential election of 2020 negates any American (and anyone) to make salty aspersions about
“Democracy” in any other jurisdiction.
And actually can we review the role of Chad in Bush v Gore.
And then we see…. mostly it matters not who wins in the US and similar “democracies”….
Coke and Pepsi….. the choice is specious.
But 2016 US was a game changer
HRC was a diabolical choice….. so the world got the inadvertent “pied piper” candidate.
And the entrenched global ruling cabal have ensued that anachronism will not happen again.
But Ike…yes. Make snide comments about the Russian system
We are living in life between facts and fictions. The latter is claming we are “soon” moving to clean energy which “will decimate Kremlins”. Facts are claming Germany has serious issues to keep wind energy booming. Coal passed wind energy as biggest source of German MWhs.
Energy, just like world itself needs diversity. There are no simple easy answers.
Ok. Here’s my chance😄
Can someone – please- explain why Lavrov and Shoigu are seeking election to Duma?
I have asked this question several times previously.
I get they are popular.
But…
It is also suggested should they be successful they won’t leave their current posts, and won’t take their Duma seats.
That seems….. duplicitous…
Here….. candidates who resign soon after election- triggering a by-election are loathed and their party punished brutality at the unnecessary election.
So obviously Russia is not Australia, so, I am extremely curious about the Lavrov Shoigu Duma scenario.
Someone who does really know the Russian system, please educate me
I believe that the Duma replaces elected persons the same way as the Australian Senate, with a member of the same party.
Predictably, the upcoming elections in Russia were covered by a farcical reportage on the Swedish national broadcaster yesterday starring the Russophobe ’journalist’ Bert Sundström. A bunch of utter nobodies rooting for the minuscule Liberal fifth column’s party ”Yabloko” were presented as some of the very few in Russia not in cahoots with/corrupted/coerced by the ”Kremlin regime”, bla bla bla.
Right next in the same news broadcast, there was an uplifting issue about Australia, US, and Britain forming a new military alliance to repel the ’ominous growing military presence of China in the South China Sea’. No coercion involved on the part of these ’democracies’, mind you.
Looking at what passes for ’opposition’ in Russia and China in general and its foreign sponsors in particular in these days of Western all-out rot and decay is a source of refined amusement rather than shock and disgust.
‘In the next few days, on September 17, 18 and 19, we are going to elect deputies to the State Duma.
The election of a new legislature is a vital event in the life of our society, our country. All of us are equally interested in electing responsible, energetic and respected members of parliament, who can keep their word, fulfil your requests and their promises and live up to the hopes and trust of the citizens of Russia.’
Here’s what Boris Johnson would say in similar circumstances, as long as the Press didn’t report it:
‘Friends, in the next few days, we are going to have our 5 yearly charade to make the public think we have democracy in the UK.
The election of a new Tory government is a vital stitch up in the life our elite society, in the only parts of the country that matter. None of us elites are interested in electing responsible members of parliament, but being energetic gives a false image of being respectable, I suppose, to the gormless cretins we have to make to feel important in public shows of bonhomie. But as for keeping our word, fulfilling their requests and living up to the hopes and trust of the voters? Give me a break. I didn’t go to Eton and Oxford to keep my word and live up to the hopes and trust of the voters? How will I earn £500m from Gates, Soros and Schwab if I do that?’