Russians want Putin to be President for life : Poll

Moscow, Apr 19 (UNI) Sixty-five per cent of Russians would like incumbent President Vladimir Putin or any other head of state to serve three terms in office and to have their tenure extended, Russia's major pollster VTsIOM (All-Russian Public Opinion Center) said.

The public opinion poll conducted on April 7-8 for the St Petersburg Politics Foundation, involved 1,600 respondents in 153 populated localities in 46 regions, territories and republics. The statistical error margin did not exceed 3.4 per cent.

Two-thirds of the respondents said they supported the proposals by Sergei Mironov, speaker of the Federation Council, the upper house of Parliament, and leader of the pro-Kremlin Fair Russia party, to extend the presidential term from four to seven years.

Only 24 per cent opposed this, whereas 69 per cent of respondents supported constitutional amendments allowing Putin to run for a third term.

Under the proposed amendments, any President could rule Russia for 21 years because the people still view heads of state as tsars.

If amended, the Russian Constitution would allow Putin to serve seven years in office, starting 2008, and to head the state for 29 years.

Joseph Stalin was the only Soviet leader to remain in power for 31 years, an unbroken record.

There was no legislation limiting the tenure of the tsars and Communist leaders, who ruled the country as long as they lived.

Palace coups and revolutions were the only way to oust them, including the last tsar Russian Emperor Nicholas II .

UNI