MOSCOW, Oct 1: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday he would run for parliament and had a “realistic” chance of becoming prime minister — a shock announcement that could herald a fundamental change in the way Russia is governed.

“I gratefully accept your proposal to head the United Russia list,” Putin told a pre-election congress of the party of power, United Russia, bringing hundreds of delegates to their feet with a roar of applause.

Mr Putin said that if the party triumphed in the Dec 2 vote and a worthy successor took his place as president in 2008, he could become prime minister.

“Heading the government is a completely realistic idea, but ... it would require at least two conditions,” he said.

The first condition, that United Russia win a majority in the State Duma, is a virtual guarantee, pollsters say. Mr Putin said the second condition was the election of an “orderly, capable and effective” president in March 2008.

His announcement stunned political observers in Moscow and came after years of speculation about what the Russian leader, who enjoys approval ratings over 80 per cent, would do after his second presidential term ends next year. Kremlin-linked political analyst Gleb Pavlovsky said that Putin’s assuming the post of prime minister would be “the most politically logical solution” to how to use his authority after he lays down the reins of the presidency.

The resulting split in power between the president and the prime minister would be “a radical advance in pluralism” for Russia, where there has been no power centre outside the Kremlin since Boris Yeltsin challenged then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the late 1980s, said Pavlovsky.

“We can forget our favourite cliche that in Russia, the president is the tsar,” Pavlovsky said, speaking on the sidelines of the congress after Putin’s announcement.

Many questions remained about how Putin could become prime minister, which under current Russian law would require his successor to appoint him to the post.

Putin’s preferred successor is all but guaranteed to win the March presidential vote, though the question of whom he will choose is as hotly debated as his future role is.

The prospect of Putin heading the government was raised by party delegate Gennady Kotelnikov, rector of a regional medical university, after a series of other delegates implored Putin to somehow retain power after March 2008.

“If you agree today to head the federal party list, then in the spring you could head the government in order to complete the changes you began in the post of president,” Kotelnikov said.

Meanwhile, Putin’s decision to lead United Russia into parliamentary elections continues a relationship of mutual support that began with the party’s formation in 2001.

The Kremlin formed the party to support Putin after he took power in 2000.

It won a vast majority in 2003 State Duma elections and has unwaveringly backed him since.

United Russia has taken every opportunity to associate itself with the massively popular Russian president, titling its parliamentary election platform “Plan Putin.” A late September poll of likely voters by the respected Levada Centre put support for United Russia at 55 per cent, followed by 18 per cent for the Communist Party.

Expected to join Putin at the head of the party list are State Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov and Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu.—AFP