September 15, 2007	Saturday	Ramazan 2, 1428

MOSCOW, Sept 14: Viktor Zubkov won easy confirmation on Friday as Russia’s new prime minister after being tapped for the post by President Vladimir Putin, less than six months ahead of a presidential handover.

Deputies in the lower house of parliament, or Duma, overwhelmingly approved Zubkov with 381 votes in favour and 47 against, with eight abstentions.

Speaking to parliament ahead of the vote, Zubkov said his priorities were “ensuring stability of economic and social development.” He promised greater efforts to boost innovation in the economy while also focussing on traditional strengths such as the defence industry.

He also promised efforts to bring down inflation while maintaining macroeconomic stability as well as social benefits such as pensions.

“We need economic growth not for our own sakes or for the sake of statistics but for the well-being of the people,” Zubkov said.

“People who have worked all their lives deserve to live decently” as pensioners, he said.

Putin’s nomination of Zubkov, a low-profile senior financial

investigator, surprised ob-

servers and boosted intrigue over who will take over from Putin after a presidential election next March 2.

Since his nomination late on Wednesday a blaze of publicity has raised Zubkov’s profile and on Thursday he secured promises of support at the prime ministerial confirmation from the pro-Kremlin parties United Russia and A Just Russia, as well as the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party.

In his speech Zubkov promised unspecified ministerial changes.

Some observers speculated that possible casualties in a reshuffle could include liberal-leaning economic development minister, German Gref, who has not managed to secure Putin’s goal of Russia joining the World Trade Organisation.

The shake-up comes as political tensions mount ahead of parliamentary polls on Dec 2 that in turn pave the way for the presidential vote.

Putin is obliged by the constitution to stand down after the March elections and commentators expect a tightly managed handover, assisted by a media machine made to toe the official line.

Putin insists that Russian citizens will face a free democratic choice.

On Thursday Zubkov said he did not rule out a presidential run himself, adding to the speculation over the succession race.

But doubts remain about the likelihood of a presidential bid by Zubkov, who turns 66 on Saturday and has been a close friend of Putin since the president’s political debut as an official at Saint Petersburg city hall in the early 1990s.

On Friday the Kommersant newspaper advanced the view — backed by some analysts — that Zubkov is intended by Putin to remain as prime minister into the administration of the next president as a force for continuity.

“The president’s own words suggest that Mr Zubkov should become the personification of continuity, as old prime minister under the new president,” said Kommersant.

Kommersant quoted Putin as saying, on a walkabout in rural Russia on Thursday, that now “the system of government will function without failing in the election period and immediately afterwards.” In the business community earlier a number of analysts voiced concern at the level of uncertainty less than six months before the presidential election.

Just two figures are widely advanced as likely candidates for the succession: joint first deputy prime ministers Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev.—AFP