MOSCOW — A former Cabinet member close to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called Friday for a rerun of the country's fraud-tinged parliamentary elections, an apparent bid to soothe public outrage ahead of the presidential vote.
Former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said in his blog that the government must open a dialogue with the opposition on holding a repeat ballot under a revised electoral law. The statement appears aimed at stealing the opposition’s thunder to prevent a challenge to Putin’s bid to reclaim the presidency in March elections.
Tens of thousands of protesters have rallied in Moscow to demand a rerun of the Dec. 4 parliamentary vote and urge an end to Putin’s 12-year rule. It has been the largest outpouring of public anger since the Soviet collapse two decades ago.
While Putin faces no serious rivals in the presidential vote, the protests signaled a sharp drop in his popularity that would make it hard for him to garner more than 50 percent of ballots to avoid a runoff. Any evidence of fraud in the vote could also fuel outrage that would make it hard for Putin to retain power.
Kudrin said authorities must acknowledge that the Dec. 4 parliamentary election was flawed, warning that failure to do so would undermine the legitimacy of the presidential vote.
"Without the acknowledgment that the parliamentary election was unfair, the fairness of the presidential vote will be thrown into doubt, irrespective of how honest it might be," he said.
Kudrin said the government and the opposition must conduct a dialogue on changing the electoral rules and laws on political parties. He added that the opposition push to unseat Putin could end in turmoil.
Kudrin argued that it would take the opposition between 1 1/2 and 2 years to field a united candidate who would be capable to compete with Putin.
Kudrin was forced out of the Cabinet in September after 10 years following a public spat over spending with President Dmitry Medvedev. He has been widely hailed for his conservative fiscal policies that helped soften the blow of the 2008-2009 global downturn in Russia. Putin hailed Kudrin’s expertise and said they have remained friends.
