MOSCOW, April 29 (Itar-Tass) —— Russian legislators on Saturday discussed the future of parliamentarianism in Russia and in Eurasian space. The meeting was held within the framework of the international “round-table” conference, timed for an anniversary of Russia’s first Duma.
In his opening remarks the speaker of the lower house of parliament, Sergei Naryshkin, noted the productiveness of the current State Duma. He recalled the dramatic development of that body of state power in modern Russia.
“It is nakedly clear that the adoption of Russia’s democratic constitution paved the way for the normal development of the political system in Russia and for the revival of the historical continuity of Russian parliamentarianism, Naryshkin said. “The decade of the modern State Duma was very eventful and lessons can and must be derived from it.”
At the same time he emphasized the ability of the bodies of federal power to act together and to find compromise solutions even in the most dramatic situations.
“During political crises the bodies of federal power have never found themselves in an insoluble conflict with each other,” Naryshkin said.
The leader of the United Russia faction, Andrei Vorobyov, noted the party’s intention to keep developing parliamentarianism in Russia.
“I understand the theme that we are discussing today as a symbol of freedom and democracy. Our attempts and wish to develop the culture of parliamentarianism are obvious.”
First Deputy Speaker Ivan Melnikov focused on the specific measures that must be taken for the sake of enhancing the parliament’s work.
“It is very important to ensure the parliament should become an independent intellectual center,” Melnikov said. “We live in an information society, there are all opportunities, including the technical ones, to take into account the entire spectrum of people’s opinions – opinion polls, mass media comments, discussions in the internet and decisions by social organizations and trade unions.”
Melnikov believes that for the development of parliamentarianism “permanent people’s control of the activity of deputies must be established.”
The leader of the LDPR faction, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, sees a pre-requisite for the parliament’s stable development in its multi-party composition and coalition nature of the constitutional majority.
“Every measure must be taken to preserve a multi-party system. The multi-party system is to produce a coalition of the parliamentary majority. The ideal option in a multi-party parliament is at least two parties ensure a majority,” he said.