MOSCOW, October 20 (Itar-Tass) — On Wednesday, President Dmitry Medvedev met with members of the public committee of his supporters and stated that he considers them as a prototype of ‘a broad’ government. The public committee of supporters will be a standing consultative body under Medvedev’s probable Cabinet. The Kremlin is seeking to create its own popular front for Dmitry Medvedev, analytical experts believe.
The Novye Izvestia recalled that Medvedev offered at a meeting with his supporters last Saturday the idea of ‘a big’ or ‘a broad’ government, which would enlarge a traditional ‘narrow’ Cabinet. Then the president agreed with the proposal to create a special committee to develop this initiative. According to Medvedev, ‘a broad’ government should turn in a venue for urgent cooperation between the ministers and members of the ruling party, local and municipal authorities and various civil society institutions.
According to Medvedev, about 80 people are potential candidates to join ‘a broad’ government, the newspaper noted. These people are presidential aide for economic issues Arkady Dvorkovich, presidential commissioner for children rights Pavel Astakhov, president of the Skolkovo Foundation Viktor Vekselberg and Permanent Representative in NATO Dmitry Rogozin. Meanwhile several regional chiefs, including Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, Governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory Alexander Tkachev, Tatarstan’s President Rustam Minnikhanov, Governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory Lev Kuznetsov and Samara Mayor Dmitry Azarov were granted the status of candidates. Senators, deputies, members of public organizations, figures of culture and arts and journalists were also offered as likely candidates for the posts of ministers.
President of the St. Petersburg Politics Foundation Mikhail Vinogradov called a probable makeup of a future ‘broad’ government as compromising. Dmitry Medvedev has taken an urgent decision to offer a potential makeup of ‘a broad’ government in order to show that he controls the current situation, the expert noted.
The Kremlin will seek to create its own popular front for Dmitry Medvedev for a period of time before the elections, the RBC daily believes. On Wednesday, the president brought together those, whom he considers as his supporters and stated that those present are members of the public committee since then. The committee will be standing and will turn in ‘a broad’ government after the presidential elections in May 2012. Medvedev made a hint that several officials present will be involved in ‘a narrow’ Cabinet in six months.
The Kremlin had to create one more structure, which would mobilize the electorate at the State Duma elections in December for several reasons, the newspaper noted. First, the presidential voters differ quite strongly from the United Russia electorate. Second, the president was dissatisfied with the quality of ‘human capital’ of the ruling party and the ways of the party work.
Finally the Kremlin decided to attempt at forming a special ideological background round Medvedev that would allow the party not to lose its voters and would make it possible for Medvedev as the top candidate to add his votes to United Russia at the elections. The Kremlin did not invent anything. The presidential administration took as an example the All-Russian Popular Front already created for Vladimir Putin. First deputy chief of the presidential administration Vladislav Surkov has put forward the idea of a new committee under the same scenario as the All-Russian Popular Front, the sources close to the Kremlin told the RBC daily.
“Concrete people were invited here to work in the government, and the All-Russian Popular Front is a coalition of organizations,” deputy secretary of the United Russia general council presidium Andrei Isayev told the RBC daily in reply to a question whether it is possible to believe that now the All-Russian Popular Front will be replaced with the committee.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta sources in United Russia, the election list of which Medvedev heads, noted that the idea sounds quite well. “This is certainly the PR, but not justified, as it was a few days ago, but already attacking,” the newspaper source said. A good idea of ‘a broad’ government should not be spoiled, because “if to fill it with the right content, the issue may even eclipse the State Duma election campaign, in which all is going up to the same pattern,” another newspaper source said.