Medvedev wants to establish dialogue with unregistered parties

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met on Monday with the leaders of several
unregistered parties and discussed the course of political reforms in the
country, RIA-Novosti reports.
 "Our political system is not ideal and many of those who have gathered
here today criticize it, sometimes harshly. At the same time, we should
proceed from general principles when changing it," Medvedev said.
Medvedev said that the main aim of the meeting was to discuss the future
political system "in the context of those political reform bills that were
submitted to the State Duma."
"Here there are people of different political views and this is probably a
good thing simply because of the fact that we must understand the direction
in which our political reform should develop," the president said.
The State Duma debates on the reforms are scheduled for February 28. The
representatives of non-parliamentary parties have been invited to these
debates. The bills concern elections to the Duma, direct popular election
of regional governors from among candidates nominated by the political
parties, simplified procedures for registering political parties and
reductions in the number of signatures required by non-parliamentary
parties and independent candidates to participate in elections.
 "I am ready to discuss other issues, but I think that the main problem is
connected with how we see the development of the political system," the
president said.