Monday, January 14, 2008

Putin Selects His Choice for the Upcoming Elections



As the Russian Presidential elections get close, President Putin's support of potential candidate has not been what anyone could call constant. Over the past few months, his public endorsements of candidates has jumped from Dmitry Medvedev to Sergei Ivanov to Viktor Zubkov, and then back to Mr. Medvedev. Now, Medvedev has "invited Mr Putin to be his prime minister."

Medvedev has been termed "Putin-2" and reaffirmed this on the day he was "anointed." In a televised statement he "rea[d] from an autocue, and even imitat[ed] Mr Putin's voice and style, he declared: “I consider it of utmost importance for our country to keep Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin in the highest post of executive power, the post of head of government of the Russian Federation.”

Read this story in its entirety here.

The endorsements that Putin provides the potential candidates has proved to be a deciding factor in the opinion polls. The "leading candidate" has become whoever Putin is supporting at the time. This shows how Putin still holds lots of influence over Russia's citizens. At the rate his "favor" has been floating around, another change would not come as a suprise.

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