| MOSCOW (AP) - President Vladimir Putin's Cabinet
survived a no-confidence
motion Wednesday in a parliamentary vote that drew attention to
dissatisfaction with the government but underlined the Kremlin's
political
power.
The motion received 172 votes in the 450-seat lower house, or
Duma, while
163 lawmakers voted against it. Six abstained and 109 did not
cast ballots.
The measure required a majority - 226 votes - to pass.
The effort, initiated by the Communists and the liberal Yabloko
party, was
widely considered doomed from the start because the Duma is dominated
by
centrists loyal to Putin.
The Communist Party has accused the Cabinet led by Prime Minister
Mikhail
Kasyanov of deepening poverty in Russia, where the gap between
rich and
poor is broad and millions struggle to get by despite recent economic
improvement.
``The government's policy as a whole is fatal and destructive
for the
country. It is leading to the loss of sovereignty,'' Communist
Party leader
Gennady Zyuganov said before the vote. ``We will face serious
social
upheavals unless we change the government and form a Cabinet serving
national interests.''
The pro-Kremlin moderates who control the Duma dismissed the
no-confidence
motion as a populist gesture ahead of December parliamentary elections.
``It's a good show by the Communist and Yabloko theater companies,''
said
Lyubov Sliska, the Duma's deputy speaker and a member of the leading
pro-Kremlin party, United Russia.
Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky has vehemently denied the vote
was a
publicity stunt, saying it gave voice to legitimate criticism
of a
government he said has failed to encourage economic growth and
carry out
long-overdue structural reforms.
``The current political system is very far from one that could
form a basis
for a market economy,'' Yavlinsky said before the vote, comparing
today's
situation to the Soviet era, when the state controlled politics
and the
economy.
Outside the parliament building near the Kremlin, Communist supporters
held
Soviet-era red flags and placards that read ``Oust Kasyanov's
Cabinet.''
Kasyanov, a holdover from Yeltsin's Cabinet, has faced strong
criticism and
the Russian media have reported a rift between him and prominent
economic
policy-makers within the government.
Putin has avoided criticizing his appointee Kasyanov in person
but has
frequently chastised his Cabinet for failing to stimulate faster
economic
growth, cut red tape and combat corruption and other crime.
Had the no-confidence motion succeeded, Putin would have had
the option of
firing the Cabinet - which he can do anyway - or disagreeing with
the
legislature. In the latter case, the Duma would have had to confirm
its
censure in a second vote within three months, and Putin then would
have had
a choice of firing the Cabinet or dissolving the Duma.
See also:
No-Confidence
Vote
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