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Most deputies from the Yabloko faction in the State Duma
did not support the candidacy of Mikhail Kasyanov for the
post of Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation.
According to the results of the voting, which took place
on May 17, 2000, eight deputies of the Yabloko faction voted
against the President’s candidate, four abstained, four
did not participate in the voting and four voted for Kasyanov.
“The President has the right to a free political decision
in choosing the candidate for Prime Minister, but we do
not see sufficient reasons for rendering support to Kasyanov,”
said Deputy Head of the faction, Sergei Ivanenko on May
17, 2000 at the plenary meeting of the house.
He also stressed that many Yabloko deputies think that
this choice of the President is “not good and won’t vote
for him. According to Sergei Ivanenko, the Yabloko faction
“did not get clear answers about the attacks on the mass
media” and a number of other issues.
Ivanenko noted that the Yabloko deputies consider the
following to be the most important priorities for the new
government: abrupt reduction in taxes, the creation of a
transparent banking system, guaranteed protection for private
property and effective management of state property, development
of free trade, the competitiveness of small businesses and
demonopolisation.
Sergei Ivanenko stressed that urgent measures should also
include “elimination of pressure” over economic structures,
the creation of the requisite conditions for long-term economic
planning and social confidence in political stability. Ivanenko
also said that Russia’s economy should be based on “clever
heads and advanced technologies”, rather than its raw material
resources. He thinks that "only honest social policy can
bring people’s trust to the power, and that democracy cannot
be achieved without this.” He also noted that “the continuing
war in the country and its transition into long-term policy
leads to a damage in raising further generations and the
hopeless backwardness of the country in the 21st century”.
But the main task of the new government, according to Yabloko
deputies, is to fight corruption. “If nothing changes here
,we will never become an open democratic society,” added
Ivanenko.
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