Medvedev pushes for plurality

Russia’s president Dmitry Medvedev said there was a danger of rising ethnic tension after he gave the green light yesterday for a December parliamentary election that will set the stage for next March’s presidential vote.

Mr Medvedev set 4 December as the date for the election to the 450-seat State Duma, the lower house of parliament, dominated by prime minister Vladimir Putin’s ruling United Russia party.

“What we definitely need to eliminate during the campaign are the attempts to incite ethnic hatred. This is categorically unacceptable,” Mr Medvedev told leaders of seven political parties.

“Such attempts and calls will be decisively suppressed.”

Moscow saw its worst ethnic riots since the fall of the Soviet Union last December when nationalist youths attacked passers-by of non-Slavic appearance near the Kremlin in what Mr Medvedev called “pogroms”.

Mr Medvedev told party leaders: “I would very much like the make-up of the future Duma to reflect the preferences of the broadest circle of our citizens to the maximum extent possible.”

Mr Medvedev’s talk of plurality seemed aimed at appealing to Russians who are tired of the dominance of United Russia.