Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
My Profile
Top News
Reuters top ten news stories delivered to your inbox each day.
Subscribe
You are here:
Home
>
News
>
International
>
Article
Home
Business & Finance
News
U.S.
Politics
International
Technology
Entertainment
Sports
Lifestyle
Oddly Enough
Health
Science
Special Coverage
Video
Pictures
Your View
The Great Debate
Blogs
Weather
Reader Feedback
Do More With Reuters
RSS
Widgets
Mobile
Podcasts
Newsletters
Your View
Make Reuters My Homepage
Partner Services
CareerBuilder
Affiliate Network
Professional Products
Support (Customer Zone)
Reuters Media
Financial Products
About Thomson Reuters
Russia's Medvedev raps ruling party over elections
Sat Nov 21, 2009 9:57am EST
Email | Print |
Share
| Reprints | Single Page
[-]
Text
[+]
By Gleb Bryanski
ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - President Dmitry Medvedev scolded leaders of Russia's ruling party on Saturday for "bad political habits" and ordered them to win future elections fairly.
In his sharpest criticism so far of United Russia, which dominates Russian political life, Medvedev told the party's annual congress in St Petersburg that some regional branches had failed to allow voters to express their will.
"Elections which are intended to be ... a competition of ideas and programs, are sometimes turned into affairs in which democratic procedures are confused with administrative ones," the president said in a brief opening speech.
"We need to learn to win -- all of us, in fact -- we need to learn to win in open contests," Medvedev told more than 600 party delegates in a session broadcast live on state television. His remarks were greeted with polite applause.
But outside the congress hall, police detained 13 members of the National Bolsheviks, a small, banned opposition political movement, as they attempted to deliver an appeal to Medvedev to dismiss Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's government.
"In our petition to Medvedev we promised support for his course of modernization and as a first step we suggested he fire Putin from the post of prime minister and stop working with United Russia," St Petersburg National Bolshevik leader Andrei Dmitriyev told Reuters by telephone from a police station.
Police told the protesters they were being detained for crossing a pedestrian crossing illegally at a red light, a charge they denied.
United Russia, headed by Medvedev's mentor and Kremlin predecessor Vladimir Putin, crushed opposition parties in regional elections held across much of Russia in October.
Critics said the poll was marred by reports of multiple voting, dubious counts, slanted campaigning and obstruction of opposition candidates but election officials dismissed complaints and Medvedev initially congratulated the victors.
Watched by Putin, who is now prime minister, from the audience, Medvedev said United Russia had to change. Critics compare it to the Soviet-era Communist Party in its dominance of political and public life.
"The party ... is only an instrument," Medvedev told delegates. "Yes, a very important, absolutely necessary instrument but just an instrument, a means but not an end."
As he spoke, Putin sat among delegates looking through his papers, making notes and periodically chatting with United Russia leader Boris Gryzlov.
He joined in the brief bursts of applause which punctuated the president's speech but rarely looked up at Medvedev. The United Russia congress was one of the rare occasions in the Russian political calendar when the two leaders appear together.
Putin spoke to delegates straight after Medvedev, giving a detailed exposition on how Russia's economy would recover from the financial crisis and resume growth.
His speech lasted more than an hour and contained detailed measures to launch a government-backed car scrappage scheme and aid to help the mortgage market. It was greeted with a standing ovation and enthusiastic applause. Continued...
View article on single page
Share:
Del.icio.us
Digg
Mixx
Yahoo!
Facebook
LinkedIn
Next Article:
Jeweller Damiani sees signs of recovery, H1 net jumps
Blog: Route to Recovery -- The breaking point
Video
Video: Twitter to follow Google's lead
Movie popcorn plus soda can equal 3 McDonald's burgers
More World News
NATO takes command of Afghan army, police training
Iran to hold war games to protect atom plants
Iraq parliament struggles over elusive vote deal
China mine explosion kills 31, traps 78
| Video
Rwanda genocide survivors may boycott U.N. court
More World News...
Related News
FACTBOX: Key decisions adopted by Russia's main party
9:57am EST
Editor's Choice
Slideshow
A selection of our best photos from the past 24 hours. Slideshow
Most Popular on Reuters
Articles
Video
Google Chrome OS: Everything You Need to Know
"Big Bang" experiment advancing fast
Google says PC will start in seven seconds or less
Obama job approval rating drops under 50 percent
BUY OR SELL-Can Dell rebound as PC spending returns?
WRAPUP 2-Healthcare bill faces first U.S. Senate test
"Yard sale" brings U.S. empire to bargain-bin ending
Canada money launderer shows holes in Vegas casinos
Healthcare bill faces first Senate test | Video
Iran to hold war games to protect atom plants
Most Popular Articles RSS Feed
Video
Senate nears healthcare vote
Twitter to follow Google's lead
Obama to host Singh
China mine explosion kills dozens
Collider restarts after hitch
Europe mulls President Van Rompuy
Peru arrests 4 for selling human fat
PS3 video service launches in Europe
Activists trash Indian TV offices
Kercher suspects back in court
Most Popular Videos RSS Feed
The Great Debate
How to finance the war in Afghanistan?
Despite all the pondering President Obama has given to whether to increase troops, it seems he has given far too little consideration to the overall cost of escalating the war and how it will undercut his ability to fund the ambitious domestic policy agenda he has set out from bank bailouts to health care reform. Commentary
U.S. civilian experts train for the real Afghanistan
Full Coverage: Afghanistan
Reuters.com:
Help and Contact Us |
Advertise With Us |
Mobile |
Newsletters |
RSS |
Labs |
Journalism Handbook |
Archive |
Site Index |
Video Index
Thomson Reuters Corporate:
Copyright |
Disclaimer |
Privacy |
Professional Products |
Professional Products Support |
About Thomson Reuters |
Careers
International Editions:
Africa |
Arabic |
Argentina |
Brazil |
Canada |
China |
France |
Germany |
India |
Italy |
Japan |
Latin America |
Mexico |
Russia |
Spain |
United Kingdom |
United States
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.