By Maria-Louisa Tirmaste
The Presidium of the Peoples Democratic Union (NDS) adopted a statement yesterday declaring that during President Dmitry Medvedev's 6-month rule, "there has been no evidence of revision of the faulty political course of the previous years". Furthermore, in his address to the Federal Assembly, the President introduced measures aimed at regime strengthening and de-facto restoration of the Soviet-style single-party system, as well as initiated constitutional changes to extend presidential and Duma terms. NDS leader Mikhail Kasyanov told Kommersant that he did not rule out the possibility of the authorities calling for pre-term presidential elections within two to three months. According to Mr. Kasyanov, "the ‘elections' will only have one goal - returning Vladimir Putin to the Kremlin". The NDS Presidium called on voters yesterday "to boycott any elections initiated by the current regime until the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of political activity is ensured and the institute of free and democratic voting is fully restored."