The State Duma elections will be transparent and very competitive. It will significantly renew the legislative body, which the Russian society has been waiting for, the speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko said during "Pozdnyakov" program on NTV channel.
"I'm not idealizing the situation, but I'm confident that the political competition will be very strong," TASS quotes her as saying.
"I'm sure that elections will be clean and transparent. Only those who lose will be unhappy," she added.
Speaker admitted that she is "happy that debates are back: each candidate will be able to show his face, will be able to present his program." "And from then it's up to the voters to decide who they consider worthy to represent their interests in the country's parliament," Matvienko noted.
She also stressed that the Russians "need new people on the leading state positions, there should be people of different views, different opinions, young, daring, educated." "And I think that upcoming elections will lead to that," she assumed, adding "this is what the society wants."
In this regard, a higher turnout during the elections is vital. "Turnout should be increased. No matter how critical a citizen might be towards the current government, without his vote, the mandate of the deputy will have less political value," she explained.
Valentina Matvienko said that currently, Russia is following "the path of liberalization of the political and electoral systems" and called representative democracy "a system, which is ready to resolve the tasks of the state."
