Sergei Mironov, leader of the quasi-opposition party A Just Russia, has said he is ready to leave office early if elected president in March but not before carrying out far-reaching political reforms.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, the former speaker of Russia’s upper house of parliament said he and communist leader Gennady Zyuganov had received a proposal to become “a transitional president” in the event of one of them winning the March 4 presidential elections.
The proposal put forward by the socialist Left Front movement involves the president carrying a “comprehensive reform of election law,” making the necessary changes in the constitution, calling a rerun of parliamentary elections and then stepping down in March 2013.
Mironov said he was prepared to act on the plan, but that he would need an additional year in office.
“I would be ready to step down as president, but no earlier than in two years,” Mironov told reporters in Moscow.
Mironov was recalled as chair of the Federation Council in May last year after criticizing former St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko.
Matviyenko was elected in his place a few months later.
Mironov’s party fared well in last month’s disputed parliamentary elections, garnering 13.25 percent of the vote. The elections were marred by widespread allegations of vote fraud in favor of the ruling United Russia party, and A Just Russia has been vocal in demanding an investigation into the alleged rigging.
