.

NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Russian Billionaire Announces Plan for Liberal Political Party

Mikhail Prokhorov is reported to be worth $22.7bn (£14bn)

Inch by hard inch Russia moves a little bit closer to a democratic system and property rights.  The West needs to understand that democratic institutions are not built in a day.  In the United States it took 40 years before a popular vote elected our Presidents.

MOSCOW— Mikhail D. Prokhorov, the Russian billionaire and owner of the New Jersey Nets basketball team, announced on Monday that he would lead a liberal Russian political party with close ties to the Kremlin.  The party that Mr. Prokhorov will lead, Right Cause, generally espouses pro-Western, liberal views in tune with those of the business and intellectual elite in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

“I have made this difficult and to a great extent unexpected decision,” he said in remarks broadcast on government television. He said he would demand “carte blanche” in managing the party, including the right to bring in new people and change its name.

“My goal is to take second place in the parliamentary elections this year,” he said in a later interview with the Interfax news agency.

 The Kremlin did not immediately comment on the matter, though it is extremely unlikely that Mr. Prokhorov would have made the decision without the approval of Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin and President Dmitri A. Medvedev.

 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/17/world/europe/17russia.html?_r=1&ref=world

No comments: