MOSCOW, October 26 (Itar-Tass) —— Prime Minister Vladimir Putin urged the All-Russia People’s Front (ARPF) to step up pre-election work and be more sensitive to the problems of fellow citizens.
“I want to remind you that at the final stage we all will have to intensify our work on the ARPF platform and show to the people that those who get to the State Duma through United Russia are determined to solve the problems facing the country,” Putin said at a meeting of the Federal Coordination Council of the All-Russia People’s Front on Wednesday, October 26.
He noted that the pre-election period was the most crucial time for political forces.
Putin believes this is necessary in order to “convince the people that they should vote for the United Russia list where all of your associations and organisations are represented”.
“We are slowly moving towards December 4, the date of the elections to the State Duma, and different political forces act differently at this time. But such a strong political party – undoubtedly a leading one – as United Russia should use the preparation for the elections for testing and using additional tools and mechanisms for communication with people,” the prime minister said.
“We should use the election campaign in order to better understand and feel the problems facing the country and each of its citizens,” he added.
Putin said the main task is to improve living standards and raise people’s incomes.
Putin earlier called for working out a mechanism for interaction between the State Duma and the All-Russia People’s Front.
“A mechanism of interaction between our faction [of United Russia party] and the People’s Front on priority draft laws should be worked on to the maximum during the autumn session [of parliament],” Putin said.
The idea of creating the All-Russia People’s Front was proposed by Putin at a regional conference of United Russia on May 6. “I propose the formation of what we call 'a broad popular front',” he said at the United Russia conference in Volgograd on the socio-economic development of southern regions of the country.
The new organisation may be called “All-Russia People’s Front”, Putin said. “The name is not the main question. The question is what it means and what our objectives are. This would be an instrument of the unification of kindred political forces. I want very much United Russia, other political parties, trade unions, organisations of women and veterans, including those of World War II and the Afghan War, all people wishing to strengthen this country, to have a common floor,” he said.
“Such form of the unification of various forces ahead of major political events has been used in various countries, by various political forces,” Putin said.
“The quality of our life and the future of Russia in the centuries to come will depend on how effectively we work in all areas… creating a moral and ideological basis for our life, strengthening ties with our past and looking into the future,” the prime minister said.
“We are creating the All-Russia People’s Front in order to make use of all constructive ideas and give civil society – youth, women’s and veterans’ organisations, business community, trade unions and associations – an additional opportunity to get directly involved in the drafting of public decisions,” Putin said.
The leaders of the entrepreneurial organisations Opora Rossii, Delovaya Rossiya, the Association of Farmers and Agricultural Cooperatives, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, the Transport Union of Russia, and other public organisations, including the Russian Union of Afghan War Veterans, the Union of Women of Russia, the Inter-Regional Public Organisation of Automobilists, the Organisation of Armed Forces Veterans, and the Federation of Independent Trade Unions expressed their wish to join the All-Russia People’s Front.
“The All-Russia People’s Front will not confine itself only to federal public organisations. We plan to go out to the hinterland in order to foster dialogue and attract public organisations, not necessarily registered ones. We regard them as potential supporters of the Front,” Peskov said.
Peskov said applications for admission to the All-Russia People’s Front would be accepted through the Internet.
Applications will be considered by the Coordination Council or the Front’s staff, which are now working with public opinion leaders and representatives of the organisations that have joined the All-Russia People’s Front.