Conley
12-14-2011, 09:24 AM
MOSCOW — The chairman of Russia’s ruling party, United Russia, resigned from his post as speaker of the lower house of Parliament on Wednesday, an apparent effort to quell some of the uproar over perceived fraud in recent parliamentary elections.
The chairman, Boris V. Gryzlov, is the highest ranking official in United Russia after Vladimir V. Putin, who serves as the party’s leader but is not a member. Intensely loyal to Mr. Putin during his eight years as speaker, Mr. Gryzlov played a crucial role in pacifying the Russian Parliament or Duma, which he once famously said “was no place for political battles.”
Mr. Gryzlov’s decision underscores the pressure on United Russia, which lost its constitutional majority in elections this month, officially gaining 50 percent of the vote. But even that result has been called into question amid widespread accusations that the party engaged in ballot stuffing and other fraud.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/15/world/europe/putin-ally-boris-gryzlov-resigns-as-speaker-of-russia-parliament.html?_r=1&hp
That is huge and equivalent to an admission of wrong doing...they're trying to pacify the protestors with a scapegoat to preserve Putin.
The chairman, Boris V. Gryzlov, is the highest ranking official in United Russia after Vladimir V. Putin, who serves as the party’s leader but is not a member. Intensely loyal to Mr. Putin during his eight years as speaker, Mr. Gryzlov played a crucial role in pacifying the Russian Parliament or Duma, which he once famously said “was no place for political battles.”
Mr. Gryzlov’s decision underscores the pressure on United Russia, which lost its constitutional majority in elections this month, officially gaining 50 percent of the vote. But even that result has been called into question amid widespread accusations that the party engaged in ballot stuffing and other fraud.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/15/world/europe/putin-ally-boris-gryzlov-resigns-as-speaker-of-russia-parliament.html?_r=1&hp
That is huge and equivalent to an admission of wrong doing...they're trying to pacify the protestors with a scapegoat to preserve Putin.