AP News, January 25th, 2007
Kremlin-backed bills usually win swift approval in Russia's loyal parliament. But legislation that would take away lawmakers' rights to breeze through Moscow's mind-boggling traffic by using special license plates ran into a bottleneck Wednesday.
It took two votes and some urging from the fervently pro-Kremlin speaker before the upper parliament house passed a bill that would force lawmakers to remove license plates adorned with the Russian tricolor.
The bill, introduced by the Kremlin-controlled United Russia party, appears aimed at soothing resentment of ordinary motorists over the special plates, flashing lights and sirens that give parking privileges to lawmakers, bureaucrats and government workers. The plates also allow them to ignore some of the rules of the road, muscling past other cars and zipping by traffic police untouched.
The country's oil-fueled economic resurgence has resulted in a splurge in spending on cars, and Moscow has become choked with vehicles, causing almost legendary traffic jams.
For Russians who battle the daily snarl, the sight of an expensive car screaming down the center lane of a two-way avenue _ or gunning by under escort as others wait _ underscores the deep divide between those in power and those without it.
Not eager for relegation to the latter category, Federation Council members rejected the bill in an initial vote. It won 88 votes, three shy of the number needed for approval.
"I do not want to participate in a farce," lawmaker Valentin Zavadnikov said in televised comments.
"What kind of a senator can one be if one spends seven hours on the road every day?" said Alexander Suvorov, a legislator who said he knows one colleague whose commute takes at least that long.
In the State Duma, the lower parliament house, the bill won overwhelming support last week, and some Federation Council members denounced it as a public relations move by Duma deputies before elections later this year. The upper house is not popularly elected.
In a second ballot, the measure passed in a 113-2 vote with four abstentions, and now goes to President Vladimir Putin for his signature.
