Prokhorov against Right Cause party joining Putin-backed People’s Front

Russian tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov said on Tuesday that his pro-Kremlin Right Cause party will not be joining the All-Russia People’s Front, backed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

“I believe that the party should function on its own,” said Prokhorov, who will be officially confirmed as the party’s leader at its June 25 congress.

Prime Minister Putin called for the creation of the All-Russia People’s Front at a conference of the ruling United Russia party in early May to broaden the party’s electoral base with “non-party people,” including trade unions, NGOs, business associations and youth groups. He followed that up days later by meeting with business, labor and civic leaders at his official Novo-Ogaryovo residence.

The Right Cause was founded in late 2008 as a merger of the liberal Union of Rightist Forces, Civic Power, and the Democratic Party of Russia and is widely seen as a Kremlin project to create a semblance of a multi-party political system in Russia.

Experts say the party may be preparing to back current President Dmitry Medvedev for re-election in the 2012 presidential elections.

MOSCOW, May 24 (RIA Novosti) 

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