MOSCOW: President Boris Yeltsin went on national television last night to open his campaign for a new constitution that he promised would help restore “law and order” 10 a country that has seen little of either in the past two years.
“We need order, but not the horrible repressive order of the Stalinist camps,” Yeltsin said. “Russia needs a steady, law based order badly,” he added, not an “iron hand” buta “democratic state that will insure progress toward a normal and worthy life for citizens, toward prosperity for a single, integral Russia.”
Russians are to vote on the draft Constitution and elect a new parliament December 12.
Under the draft constitution, citizens would be guaranteed freedom of speech, of religion, of assembly and of travel. Rights to private property — including the right to own land, which was taboo under the Soviet constitution— would be explicitly protected. Some of these clauses were in the Soviet constitution, others had been added over the lustful years, and some clauses, like the right to own land, are new.
The lower house, Duma, would control the budget. And the president needs its consent to name (but not to dismiss) a prime minister, But if the Duma refuses the president’s choice three times in a row, then it too could be disbanded.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 19, 1993
