Medvedev may ban third term of presidency

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev came up with a sensational statement at a meeting with opposition leaders.

He said he seriously considered amending the Constitution of the Russian Federation to ban a person from being elected president for more than two terms.

“Medvedev said he seriously considered amending the Constitution to ban the president from being elected for the third term: This is what he just said: two terms are quite enough,” co-chairman of the unregistered Parnas party, leader of Solidarity movement Boris Nemtsov told the Izvestiya newspaper.

It was Nemtsov who suggested amending Chapter 4 of Article 81 of the Russian Constitution saying that no person shall hold the office of President of the Russian Federation for more than two terms in succession. The opposition representative said it is expedient to remove the words “in succession”, and Medvedev, according to him, agreed on this.

Presidential candidate Vladimir Putin who hopes to win the presidential race due on March 4, 2012, bids for the third term. In case of winning the elections Putin will be in office for the next six years. Obviously, the proposed amendment to the Constitution which is approved by Medvedev verbally cannot possibly be adopted before the upcoming elections.