Russia’s economic crisis in 2014 led President Vladimir Putin to direct central and local officials to cut expenditures on public relations to the bone in order to funnel more funds to efforts to solve social problems. According to media reports, however, many local officials have not implemented the budget cuts called for by the President.
All politics are local politics, and local officials who do not take action or abuse their powers should be whisked out of office. The ultimate solution is to choose governors, comptrollers and local chief executive through election to serve a single term of 5 years, followed by a 6-year ban on running for office again. Candidates for governor should run independently, while those in the race for comptroller and chief financial officer should run on a single slate. The one-vote single-election system should be adopted to allow third forces to participate in the system. For details, see the Charter for Permanent Peace and Development.
