Senator for life

Newly appointed speaker in the Council, Valentina Matvienko, argues that the senators should be entitled to stay in their posts also after their terms expire. She says that a bill on the issue will soon be presented. The proposed legislation will allow the senators to be reappointed without any kind of elections, Gazeta.ru reports.

Under existing legislation, the senators need to be elected and reelected by local or regional legislative assemblies.

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The proposal from Matvienko comes after the State Duma, the other chamber of parliament, this week adopted a law which entitles its own deputies to automatically get membership in the Federation Council after their State Duma terms expire. That law was adopted amid protests from the Federation Council.

The council now shoots back. According to Anatoly Lyskov, leader of the council Committee on legal issues, the new Matvienko bill is meant to protect the current senators and is a symmetrical response to the law adopted by the State Duma.

Paradoxically, the new legislation comes as Dmitry Medvedev says that he will not run for the presidency in 2012. Medvedev initiated several measures on the gradual re-democratization of the two parliament chambers.

The new legislation will leave hardly any democratic legitimacy in the Russian Parliament. In the 1990s the Federation Council was represented by delegates appointed by the regions themselves, as well as by the popularly elected governors. After year 2000, the procedures on parliament representation has been gradually tightened and the chambers of parliament are today strictly controlled by federal authorities.