New Delhi: President Vladimir Putin on Monday agreed to run for the State Duma as United Russia's top candidate and indicated that he might become prime minister once he leaves office next year.
Putin's surprise announcement means that other parties, including A Just Russia, face the very real prospect of being edged out of the next Duma, lawmakers and analysts said.
The remarks also provided the clearest signal yet of what Putin plans to do once his second term ends.
Putin agreed to top United Russia's federal list at the party's pre-election convention in the Gostiny Dvor shopping center, just across from Red Square and the Kremlin.
"I gratefully accept your offer," he told the 500 delegates to thunderous applause and a standing ovation.
Asked by a delegate to govern the country as prime minister in 2008, Putin said it was a "realistic idea" under two conditions: an overwhelming victory by United Russia in the December 2 elections and the selection of a "worthy candidate for the presidency" with whom he could cooperate.
In his 20-minute introductory speech, Putin threw his support behind the pro-Kremlin party, praising its work and stressing that he had helped created it six years ago.
"I not only supported the creation of the party in 2001, I was among its initiators," he said.
He called the party "a uniting force" that "provided political stability and implemented all our programs."
Putin, however, made it clear that he would not become a member of United Russia. "Like the overwhelming majority of my countrymen, I am not a member of any party, and I do not wish to change this," he said.
(With PTI inputs)
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