New party will support Putin: Gorbachev

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW, NOV. 25. The former Soviet President, Mr. Mikhail Gorbachev, said his newly formed Social Democratic Party will support the President, Mr. Vladimir Putin, for re-election in the next Presidential elections in 2004.

``The position taken by the President is close to us,'' Mr. Gorbachev told a foundation congress of the new party. ``All recent developments prove that we've made the right choice.'' Mr. Gorbachev said Mr. Putin's policy was consonant with social democracy.

``We deem it most important that the President is acting in the national interest, in the interest of the majority of the country's population,'' said Mr. Gorbachev, who resigned as Soviet President 10 years ago next month after the leaders of the three biggest constituent Republics - Russia, Ukraine and Belarus - agreed to dismantle the Soviet Union.

Mr. Gorbachev, while still popular abroad, sank into oblivion under his arch-rival, the Russian President, Mr. Boris Yeltsin, but Mr. Yeltsin's successor, Mr. Putin, brought Mr. Gorbachev back to the centrestage, inviting him to the Kremlin and entrusting him with delicate diplomatic missions in the West.

Mr. Gorbachev said he hopes that his new Social Democratic Party, which has united a number of smaller parties and political groups, will fare well in the next regional and federal elections for Parliament.

``The social democratic idea is very much alive in Russia and is being exploited by different parties in their hunt for votes,'' Mr. Gorbachev said. ``We have a good chance to win those votes.''

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Section  : International
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