The Kremlin announced Tuesday that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has submitted an amendment to extend the presidential term from four to six years. News agencies speculate that Medvedev’s move might allow former leader, Vladimir Putin, to seek the seat ahead of scheduled 2012 elections.
As the law stands now, a president can serve two back-to-back four-year terms but then must step down. However, the law does not prohibit him from running again after that.
Why change the law? In it’s statement, the Kremlin says
Establishing a longer term of office for the President with respect to State Duma deputies speaks to the need to ensure the stable development of the country and the continuity of government policies. The achievement of this goal is rendered more difficult when there is a virtually complete turnover of power at the federal level every four years.
If that were the case here, six years might help the president. A president could focus on the country for about 4 1/2 years (if future elections are anything like this election has been) before focusing on re-election. That might help, indeed, stabilize developments.
What do you think? Would the same ruler for six years work in America? Should there be other limits/modifcations to current term rules?
