Nov. 26 (Bloomberg) -- The only voices in Russia's legislature opposing Vladimir Putin after Dec. 2 parliamentary elections won't be strangers to autocratic one-party rule. They're the Communists, who monopolized power in the Soviet era.
Putin ``has more power today than the pharaoh of Egypt, the czar and the Soviet Union's general secretary combined,'' says Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov.
After transforming the State Duma into a rubber stamp during eight years as president, Putin is about to turn the tables by making his successor subservient to a legislature dominated by the United Russia party -- and controlled by none other than parliamentary candidate Vladimir Putin. That way, he can continue running the country after relinquishing the presidency in May, delighting Russians who are reveling in the ninth year of an economic boom.
``Putin has followed a political strategy which has tremendous resonance in traditional Russian political culture, presenting himself as a `good czar' working for the benefit of the Russian people,'' says Andrew Kuchins, a Russia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
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