The Executive Branch of the Russian Federation - Essay Example

s The Executive Branch of the Russian Federation Summary This Assignment is correlated with the information about the political system of the Russian federation. It includes a thorough illustration of the Russian Federation’s Government, members of the Russian Executive branch, through which process they are being selected or elected and what are their responsibilities. Furthermore this assignment leads to know that how the presidential power that have been increased since last decade or more is affecting the whole Russian Federation. It is an attempt to discuss the critical and dramatic relationship of the two main characters of the Russian politics that have been swapping and grasping the most important position of the executive branch since last few years. In the way to make it more authentic references of books, internet and journals has been presented. 1. Introduction The Russian Chief of the State/President According to the Russian federation constitution 1993 the president of Russian Federation is the head of the state and as well as the chief of the state. According to The Constitution of the Russian Federation 1993, “The President of the Russian Federation is the head of state, Supreme Commander-in-chief and holder of the highest office within the Russian Federation. Name of the Presidents and their ruling periods Boris Yeltsin After the cancelation of USSR in December 1991 Boris Yeltsin came to power on June 1991 with a leading victory of 57% votes and elected as the first President of Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. He served RSFSR from December 1991 till august 1996 and then he was reelected on august1996 with approximately 54% votes and he remained at this workplace till the end of December of 1999. Besides, during his rule he remained unsuccessful to overcome the disasters economic and political crises of 90’s (Council of Europe, “Conference on the Reform of the Judiciary in the Russian Federation German”). Vladimir Putin: After the resignation of Boris Yeltsin on December 1999 Vladimir Putin became the acting president till March 2000 and then was elected as a president till May 2004. His second presidency period started from May 2004 when he was reelected with a popularity of 71% votes and this period of presidency ended in May 2008. Dmitry Medvedev: After the presidential rule of Vladimir Dmitry Medvedev became the new president of RSFSR and served his nation as a president from May 2008 till May 2012. Vladimir Putin was elected as a prime minister of ESFSR by The president Medvedev. Vladimir Putin: In 2012 Putin again won the presidential election and got back his presidency from Dmitry Medvedev and has been serving as a president since May 2012. 2. Brief Definition of the Executive Branch According to the (Pascal Elizabeth 3) Executive Branch is the Branch of Government responsible to carry out the Law. Executive Branch of Russia President: Prime minister is the head of the executive branch of the Russian Federation and according to the Constitution of Russian Federation the President is the head of the State of RSFSR. The president gets elected by the election that held after a gap of six years and was the amended form of elections duration occurred 4 years before 2008. Concurring to the law a candidate had to win more than 50% of the total votes cast in the Election. If no one of the candidates gets 50% then the top two candidates had to compete in 2nd round of Election called run-off election. A president was allowed by the law to compete for the 2nd time for the president but not allowed to compete in the third time (Thomas Grove and Gabriela Baczynska, “Anti-Putin protesters show their strength in Russia”). Prime Minister: The Executive Power of Russian federation mainly shares between president and prime minister but President includes more power due to the authorities to appoint a Prime minister with the assistance or approval of the Duma. Prime minister is also the Head of the Russian Government. Legislative Branch The Parliament: The two-house of Federal Assembly of Russia was responsible of federal law, approves agreements, declares war and had the power of the purse. Legislative Power: There were two chambers of the Federal assembly and both had their own power and responsibilities. The Federation Council of Russia This was known as the upper house of the Parliament. There were 84 federal subjects of the Russia each of them sends two members that make 168 senator’s council. One senator was elected by the provincial legislature and the other nominated by the provincial governor who further confirmed by the legislature. This upper house had to coordinate with the lower chamber and it had the power to declare the presidential elections, and can issue the summons of the president and decide over the activities of Russian army outside their territory (Thomas Grove and Gabriela Baczynska, “Anti-Putin protesters show their strength in Russia”). The Duma Duma is the Lower house of the Russian Federal assembly. It has great importance as all the bills planned by the upper house must first be well-though-out by the Duma. Once a bill is passed by a majority of the member in Duma then a draft law is sent back to the Federation Council. If the Council has any objection over it, the two chambers may form a commission to work out a compromise. The 450 members are known as deputies of Duma are elected for the five years. Member of the Duma are elected by the proportional representation with a minimum of 7% of the vote to qualify. The Judiciary The Judiciary branch of Russian federation is segregated into three categories. The constitutional court The court of general jurisdiction which is lower than the Supreme Court The arbitration court system under the High Court of Arbitration Council of Europe stated that in constitutional court there were 19 judges among them. One was selected as a Deputy Chairman and another chairman. President was appointed the judges with the approval of Upper house. The constitutional court rule on violations of constitutional rights, to examine appeals and to take part in summons proceedings against the president (3). The municipal court was the lowest court and they deal with the criminal and civil cases. The general jurisdiction’s courts were of regional level court and they assign to treat the cases at regional level. Supreme Court was the court of maximum echelon in Russian federation. Lower courts cases can be appealed to the upper level courts. Arbitration courts were responsible to treat with the property and commercial issues. The highest level of court resolving economic clash was the High court of Arbitration (Thomas Grove and Gabriela Baczynska, “Anti-Putin protesters show their strength in Russia”). Power of the President Russian Federation had been described as the “presidential system” and some stipulated powers boost up the president in a superior position as he was the Head of the state and the legislature as well. According to (Huskey, Eugene 17) President had the right and authority to issue decrees and can order or direct the force of law without legislative review. Even the President can dissolve the state Duma under some certain situations. He can also include rights of scheduling referendum. President also had the power to appoint the prime minister. With the favor of the Prime Minister President can also appoint or remove the member of the Government. There was a direct impact of the president on the economic condition of the Russian federation as he appoints candidate for the post of Russian Central Bank. On other hand the presidents had the right to submit the candidates to the upper house for the post of Justice of all the Courts. President was responsible for essential basic domestic policy and foreign policy for the state. The president also serves as commander and chief of the Russian Armed Forces and holds the power to declare martial law. According to Robert Donaldson “President had the power to leadership the foreign policies of the Russian federation” (124) By the review of Presidential Power it was precisely right to say that a president is the strongest person of the Russian Federation as he had great effects over the economy, judiciary, and military and even on the constitution. This means that a president was all in all and a single person could run the whole Federation in his own way as a one man show. According to the constitution of 1993 a president was elected in term of 4 years election but after the 2008 amendment this duration increased to six years as the last elections were held in 2012 in which Vladimir Putin got great success with a huge margin of popularity will serve till 2018. It was stated in the article 81 of Russian federation that The President of Russia Official Site stated that “The President of the Russian Federation shall be elected for six years by citizens of the Russian Federation on the basis of universal, equal, direct suffrage by secret ballot” (5). 3. Elections In the starting Russian elections was held after every four years, in 2008 an amendment that was passed out and extend this duration to six years. Federal council or the upper house was responsible for the calling the election. There were two rounds in the election. To get the presidential power a candidate have to score more than 50% of total votes if none of the candidates win 50% then in a second round of elections top two candidates had to compete. But in last five elections, only in 1996 election had a second round. Russian federal governs the elections according to constitution but there had been continuously amendment in the laws and rules of the election. Because of the continuous amendment the Russian federation election was considered to be rigged in the favor of the government as many journalist and oppositions parties opposed the election. According to the people of the Russian federation there were very rare fraud cases in Russian federal election. In 2007 the European institution who observed the elections stated that since the presidency of Vladimir Putin, election are not been held in fairways (President of Russia Official Site, “The Constitution of Russia”). In the last election of 2012 Vladimir Putin again become the president till 2018, this news was intolerable for a huge society and in the sequence about thousands turned out and protest against the new president with the slogan “Russian without Putin”. To prove the protest against the rigged elections, social networking sites were largely used where lot of videos and pictures were posted. On the other side Vladimir supporters claims that the victory of the Vladimir Putin was the corroboration of his intensifying popularity among Russian people. The president of Russian Federation was authorized to appoint the chairperson of the government (prime minister) with the approval of the lower house Duma. Moreover he can call the meetings of the government and also hold the right to dismiss in its entirety. He might also confiscate the government’s members even the deputy prime minister upon the advice of Prime Minister (Huskey Eugene, “Presidential Power in Russia. United States of America”). The first deputy premier was the acting or vice-prime minister of vice head of the government. The First deputy premier is recommended by the Prime minister and had to be approved by the president. Relationship between Putin and Medvedev Anardent affable relation can be seen by analyzing the Russian government’s history since Dmitry Medvedev attached with Vladimir Putin. Facts about the relationship Vladimir was first elected in 1999 as an acting president and then he was reelected in 2000 to 2004 and then from 2004 to 2008, after completing two consecutive presidential terms he was ineligible to compete the presidential election for the third consecutive term, at this specific time Putin and Medvedev relations became very prominent as Medvedev became the president and he appointed Putin as a prime minister. After completing first term of Medvedev presidency from 2008 to 2012 Putin again competed the presidential election and once again he grasped the president post and by proofing himself an honest friend and companion of Medvedev again he had been appointed him as a Prime minister of Russian Federation since 2012 and this relation is still going on the right track even have been facing many storms (Eurasianet issue: “Osipovich  Alexander Putin, not Medvedev, Remains Master of Russian Foreign Policy). It was no secret that Putin and Medvedev have been drifting apart from one another since the former president Medvedev took credit for the Russia's war against Georgia. Putin became a part of a documentary, titled 'The lost days' in which he states that Medvedev was the reason for the death of 1000 people due to his hesitance to order the Russian troops to battle. As a result of his actions three days of the war were wasted. He also explained that he had called Medvedev twice about the event while he was in the Beijing Olympics. Many argue that this was the crucial point in the relationship between the two men, which took a wrong turn. The first clash between the two former allies arose when Putin decided to run for president on September, 2011. This led the two politicians reversing roles. There had been deep suspicion that Medvedev was involved in the anti-Putin protests the broke out last winter along the allegations of fraud in December's elections. However there was no proof that Medvedev was responsible for the financing of these outbursts. Recently Medvedev had been busy; seen by his announcement of formulating a broad committee of government advisers, compromising of individuals against Putin. People like IgnorYurgens, had tried to talk some sense in Medvedev. The former adviser of Medvedev, GlebPavlovsky had pointed out that the conflict between Putin and Medvedev. It was entirely over political assets; the success of Georgia rather than one another. There was another reference from the internet which shows the relationship of Putin and Medvedev (Pascal Elizabeth, Defining Russian Federalism). According to Grove and Baczynska, “The leading role still clearly belongs to Putin. This reflects the unspoken agreement that was reached between Putin and Medvedev,” as stated by Yevgeny Volk, an independent political analyst in Moscow 4. Conclusion It was precisely right on our part to state that the Russian federation includes fair elements of corruption. It can be judged from the last election that was held in 2012 where Putin again got a mammoth margin victory, opposed by opposition leaders, journalist and public spicily. They condemned the elections and raised the slogan in an article stating: “Russia without Putin” This corruption can be seen through the selection of whole executive body as they were linked to each other. According to the present political situation of Russian federation the swapping of seats drama of Putin and his partner Medvedev was no more a mystifying thing for the people of Russia. In the result he had to face great restriction by the public, street protests against his government were becomes routine of Russian people. But Putin was still trying to maintain his position by introducing new schemes and program for the betterment of public. It was said that due to lack of power and authorities, his rule as the president ended within a short period of time. On his behalf, the Russian people might see Putin on the presidential designation till the end of 2nd consecutive term. But viewing all present critical circumstances in which rulers were violating a democratic nation’s rules and regulations, it might become more controversial and dangerous in the future era of Russian Federation. Work Cited Council of Europe, “Conference on the Reform of the Judiciary in the Russian Federation. Germany”. Council of European Publishing 1996. Print. Pascal Elizabeth, Defining Russian Federalism. United States of America. Preage Publishing 1968. Print. Eurasianet issue: “Osipovich  Alexander Putin, not Medvedev, Remains Master of Russian Foreign Policy. 1 Dec 2012 Huskey Eugene, “Presidential Power in Russia.United States of America. M.E Sharp Inc.1999. Print. President of Russia Offical Site, The Constitution of Russia. 1 Dec. 2012 President of the Russian Federation, “The Constitution of The Russian Federation” 4th Chap. 1993. Web 2012 Donalson, Robert H., “The Foreign Policy of Russia “, 4th ed. , M.E sharp. 2009. Grove Thomas and Baczynska Gabriela, Anti-Putin protesters show their strength in Russia. 01 Dec. 2012 < http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/16/us-russia-protest-idUSBRE88E06R20120916> Read More