How Institution of Presidency will Develop in CIS Countries: View of Youth

A meeting of the international youth discussion club “Tavricheskiy” was held at the headquarters of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly on the topic “The Institute of Presidential power in the Commonwealth countries: present and future”. The meeting at the club opened a series of events within the framework of the scientific and practical conference “Institute of Presidential Power in the CIS countries”.

The meeting of the discussion club was facilitated by the International Institute for Monitoring Democracy Development, Parliamentarianism and Suffrage Protection of Citizens of IPA CIS Member Nations (IPA CIS IIMDD).

The event was opened by Deputy Head of the Secretariat of the IPA CIS Council — Director of the IPA CIS IIMRD, Doctor of Law, Professor Ivan Mushket.

The Director of the Institute drew the participants’ attention to the fact that the institution of the President is a unifying factor. Most of the voters are young people, so their opinion on these issues is very important.

The meeting was facilitated by Deputy Dean for Youth Policy at the Faculty of International Relations of St. Petersburg State University Nikolay Parfenenok and Associate Professor of the Department of Regional Politics and Political Geography of St. Petersburg State University, Associate Professor of the Department of International Relations of the North-West Institute of Management of the RANEPA Natalia Mikheeva.

Specialist at the Center of socio-economic and geopolitical research (CSEGR) Dmitriy Didenko made a report on the Genesis and Evolution of presidential Power in the CIS space.

Master student of the BRICS Studies program at the Faculty of International Relations of St. Petersburg State University Lev Altman told about the “Institute of Presidential Power in the BRICS countries”.

The participants of the meeting expressed their opinion on which type of republic is preferable for the CIS countries. Most speakers favored the presidential system, as the image of a strong leader is important for residents of Commonwealth states. 

Another issue for discussion was the term of office and the number of re-elections of the President. According to some speakers, the short term of government affects both the foreign policy course and the domestic political situation.

The youth discussion will continue with the roundtable “Observation of the Presidential Elections of the Russian Federation”, which will be held at the site of the North-West Institute of Management of the RANEPA on 26 April, 2024.