Paul
Goble
Staunton, October 17 – Vladimir Zhirinovsky,
the frequently outrageous leader of the wildly misnamed Liberal Democratic
Party of Russia who nonetheless often serves as a bellwether of Russian
politics, says that Russia should dispense with direct elections for the
Russian presidency because “the democratic costume is too tight for Russia.”
In remarks to the Second Youth
Legislative Forum at the Russian Academy of Economics and State Service, the
LDPR leader said that there is no need for direct election of the Russian
president. Instead, he can be chosen “with the help of electors from all the territories”
just as the Moscow patriarch is (forum-msk.org/material/news/10542153.html).
Zhirinovsky said he is “an opponent
of anarchic democracy” and that the country needs to dispense with its
democratic clothing which he said is “too tight” and don again “an imperial
costume,” something that would involve “a change in the style of administration”
because “in a democracy and a republic, it is impossible to ensure the carrying
out of laws.”
In reporting this latest outrage
from the LDPR leader which is clearly part of a general effort to extend
Vladimir Putin’s reign to the end of his life, Anatoly Baranov, the editor of
the FORUM.MSK portal, says that Russia needs “a committee for the defense of
the republic” because some like Zhirinovsky are drifting so far in the
direction of monarchism.
That trend, he suggested could “end
with some kind of theocracy, when the chief of state will not only retain civil
power for his lifetime but will be converted into ‘a living god.’” And Baranov cites Boris Nemtsov’s recent
report that Putin and his aides have been complaining about acts they view as
an affront to his “highness.”
Prosecutors, if they are interested
in protecting the Russian constitution, should be looking into all this now
lest they be surprised in the near future about how far the Kremlin has gone to
prepare Russia for the restoration of an emperor, Baranov suggests.
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