Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Friday, August 26, 2011

A woman near the top of Russian government?

It's rare in all political systems to find a woman in a top position, but I can't remember any woman who has even been near the top in Russia or the Soviet Union. Maybe that's about to change.

However, there's more than one perspective on this rising politician. A report by Will Englund in The Washington Post suggests that the St. Petersburg governor was being "kicked upstairs" to improve the public attractiveness of the ruling United Russia party.

Oh, and her election looks a little shady to some observers.

Putin ally Valentina Matviyenko set to be Russia's No 3

A close ally of Russian PM Vladimir Putin has won a reported landslide in a vote that puts her on course to assume one of Russia's most powerful roles.

Valentina Matviyenko has won a seat in Russia's upper house of parliament, the Federation Council.

It is thought Mr Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev want her to be speaker - the third-ranking job in Russia.

But opponents denounced her victory - with more than 95% of the vote - as fraudulent…

Ms Matviyenko has been governor of St Petersburg, Russia's second city, since 2003.

The city is where both Mr Putin and Mr Medvedev come from…

If successful, it is thought Ms Matviyenko would be Russia's highest appointed stateswoman since Catherine the Great, who was empress of Russia in the 18th Century.

Russia’s ruling party engineers replacement of St. Petersburg governor

With elections coming in December, the ruling United Russia party has been concerned about its fading support and wanted to get a more voter-friendly face in office in Russia’s second-largest city, the hometown of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

St. Petersburg governor Valentina Matviyenko is now in line to become speaker of the upper house of parliament — on paper, the third most important post in the Russian government, and one that’s currently vacant. But to be eligible, she first had to win election this past weekend to a district council seat.

Elections officials announced Monday that she had won two such seats, in races that she joined after the registration of candidates had been closed and that other candidates were denied permission to enter. She won them by 93.7 and 94.5 percent of the vote, the officials said.

Protests over the conduct of the elections led to the arrest last week of the prominent opposition leader Boris Nemtsov…

Meet Russia's Thatcher, the chemist who could end up in the Kremlim

Russia's next presidential election is not until 2012, but speculation is already rife about whether Dmitry Medvedev will try for a second term or whether his predecessor, Vladimir Putin, will want to reclaim his old job. The one thing almost everyone can agree on is that they will not stand against each other. But there might just be a third way, and that third way could give Russia its very own Margaret Thatcher or Angela Merkel.

Even to mention the possibility risks crushing Valentina Matviyenko's prospects well before nominations open. But if anyone can do it, the 61-year-old Governor of St Petersburg may be the one…

Russia has never been keen on female politicians; even in Soviet days, when women drove tractors and the Communist Party boasted about equal rights, their presence in the leading institutions was more token than substantial. Ms Matviyenko acknowledges the problem, cheerfully relating how her opponents festooned the city's streets with banners proclaiming "Being governor is no job for a woman" before she was convincingly elected…

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Labels: gender, leadership, politics, Russia