| The State Duma has set the date when it plans to
bury the controversial issue of a no-confidence vote in the government.
As was expected, the vote will take place on Wednesday, June 18.
On Tuesday the State Duma council decided that the question of
passing a vote of no-confidence in the government, suggested by
the Communist and the Yabloko factions would be considered at
the plenary session on June 18. The choice was limited by prior
engagements and holidays.
According to house regulations, after a proposal on a vote is
forwarded to the council for consideration at a plenary session,
it has to be taken within a working week. In other words, it could
happen either at tomorrow's session, or on Friday. Wednesday could
not be chosen not only because that would mean excessive haste,
but also because it has already been decided that tomorrow the
lower house will listen to a report by the prime minister. The
deputies would surely find it difficult listening to Kasyanov's
report while thinking about passing a no-confidence vote on his
cabinet.
The State Duma's schedule is also interrupted by the June 12
Independence Day holidays v the deputies will not convene on Friday,
thereby setting the next session date for June 18. This date also
suits the vote's initiators, as it provides more time to prepare
for the debate and even a chance to consult with those parliamentarians
who are still undecided. On Monday, when the question was raised
at the State Duma Council, Yabloko's representative Sergei Ivanenko
said that his faction and their partners wanted to discuss the
question on June 18.
The council also set a fixed time for the start of the vote's
discussion - 17-00. Usually, the State Duma passes decisions on
statements and addresses (and the no-confidence vote was submitted
in the form of an address) before lunch. But as the question is
complex and is bound to cause prolonged debate, it was left for
the afternoon session to enable the deputies to fit in lunch beforehand.
Even before the council discussed the date for the vote's consideration,
most factions had already formed their opinion on the initiative.
It is very likely that the number of deputies who will support
it will not exceed the number of those who signed the initial
address. The Communists and Yabloko managed to gather just 103
signatures which is less than half the number needed for the address
to be adopted (226 votes). Almost certainly, the authors of the
initiative will fail to persuade another 123 parliamentarians
to join them in just over a week's time.
Four of the bigger centrist factions, whose attitude to the no-confidence
vote will be decisive, voiced their opinion on Monday. Anatoly
Aksakov of the People's Deputy faction told Interfax that his
faction would not support the move as they consider it as nothing
more than a pre-electoral PR stunt by the Communists and Yabloko.
Aksakov said that all the problems in the Cabinet could be resolved
at this Wednesday's session by asking Kasyanov questions following
his report to the Duma.
Boris Nadezhdin of the Union of Right-Wing Forces also said
his colleagues considered the vote a PR stunt and would not support
it.
The Communists and Yabloko have already got all possible support
from independent deputies and those deputies who will vote in
favour of the no-confidence address regardless of the instructions
from their faction leaders. On Monday it became known that the
address had been signed by independent deputies Nikolai Gubenko,
Vladimir Ryzhkov, and Oleg Shein of Russia's Regions. But their
votes are unlikely to shift the balance significantly.
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