Source: hro.org (info), 22/04/11

· Voting rights · Human Rights Defenders · Perm Region

An extended and out-of-Moscow meeting of the Presidential Council for Civil Society Institutions and Human Rights was held in Perm on 21 April 2011 as part of the 7th Perm Economic Forum. Chair of Perm Civic Chamber, Igor Averkiev, proposed that the Presidential Council should bring before Russian President Dmitry Medvedev an initiative to reinstate the elections of regional governors and to stop the political campaign to abolish direct elections of heads of urban and rural authorities.

The session was chaired by Mikhail Fedotov, head of the Council and advisor to the President of the Russian Federation. The meeting was devoted to the problems that arise as a result of the participation by citizens and civil society groups in decision-taking by the authorities at regional and local levels.

In particular, Igor Averkiev, chair of Perm Civic Chamber, made a speech entitled “Direct elections of leading officials as the basis for social accord and trust between the authorities and society in Russia.”

At the end of his speech, Mr Averkiev suggested that the Presidential Council should address Russian President Dmitry Medvedev with a proposal to reinstate elections of regional governors and to stop the political campaign to abolish direct elections of the heads of urban and rural authorities.

In addition, the chair of Perm Civic Chamber proposed that the elections of governors be re-introduced by means of regional referenda. However, he did not rule out the possibility that some Russian regions might want to maintain the system of appointment of governors by the President.

Participants in the meeting of the Council agreed to consider this issue at one of its next sessions.