Russia's ruling United Russia party, whose majority was reduced in this month's parliamentary election, on Saturday backed Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Naryshkin to become speaker of the State Duma (lower house), Reuters quoted the party as saying. Naryshkin, 57, whose nomination had been widely expected, will take over from Boris Gryzlov, who quit in a move apparently aimed at cooling public anger over an election opponents say was rigged in United Russia's favour. The speaker's post is seen as a nominal one in the top-down "vertical of power" designed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who is expected to return to the Kremlin after a presidential election next March 4. Naryshkin, like Putin a native of St Petersburg, worked in the 1980s in the economic attache's department of the Soviet embassy in Belgium. He speaks fluent English and French. Since 2008 he has headed the Kremlin administration, where he was viewed as a trusted Putin aide capable of "minding" the presidency of Dmitry Medvedev, a Putin protege who is stepping down to switch roles and become prime minister. Naryshkin's deputy, Vladislav Surkov, a key ideologist of Russia's political system, has taken over as the Kremlin's acting chief of staff. United Russia won the Dec. 4 parliamentary election, but its share of the official vote slipped to barely 50 percent from 64 percent in 2007, reducing its majority to just 13 seats. Parliament is due to reconvene on Dec. 21 and hold a vote to elect the speaker. Medvedev will address lawmakers and other dignitaries in an annual address the following day.
