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Communist leader hopes government sacked after Olympics

He expressed confidence that the current government would be unable to fulfill the tasks set by the president in his annual state-of-the-nation address on Thursday
Leader of the Communist Party of Russia Gennady Zyuganov ITAR-TASS/Sergei Bobylev
Leader of the Communist Party of Russia Gennady Zyuganov
© ITAR-TASS/Sergei Bobylev

MOSCOW, December 12. /ITAR-TASS/. Leader of the Communist Party of Russia Gennady Zyuganov has expressed hope that the Russian government will be sacked soon after the Winter Olympic Games in the Black Sea resort of Sochi in 2014.

He expressed confidence that the current government would be unable to fulfill the tasks set by the president in his annual state-of-the-nation address on Thursday.

“The government continues to destroy schools and now they have destroyed our science,” Zyuganov told reporters after Vladimir Putin’s state-of-the-nation address. “Those who control the financial and economic block, continue to say liberal nonsense that led us to the current situation.”

“I am confident that the issue of the government’s resignation is boiling up, but it will not be resolved before the Olympic Games, but I hope that this issue will be tackled soon after the Olympics,” he said.

At the end of the spring session of the State Duma, lower house of Russian parliament in July, communists said they had gathered enough signatures (90 signatures of parliamentarians — Itar-Tass) to bring forward a no confidence motion against the government.

The Communist Party said at a rally in Moscow on August 31 “it plans to sack the cabinet by the next anniversary of the October Revolution (November 7) and create the government of national unity.” On November 2, communists said they had collected over 2 million signatures of citizens in support of the cabinet’s resignation. However, these signatures have not been submitted to the State Duma yet.

Initially, a bill reforming the Russian Academy of Sciences forced the Communist Party to launch this initiative. However, later Zyuganov announced his ten reasons for the government’s resignation, including inadequate economic and financial policy, predatory privatization, accession to the World Trade Organisation on disadvantageous for Russia conditions, reduction of social guarantees and the lack of the economic growth.

Under the Constitution the State Duma may pass a no confidence vote against the government by the parliamentary majority. When parliamentarians call for a no confidence vote, the president has the right to announce the government’s resignation or disagree with parliamentarians. If within three months the State Duma repeatedly passes a no confidence motion, the president should sack the government or dissolve the State Duma.