EIIPD CONDUCTS  PUBLIC LECTURE

The Ethiopian International Institute for Peace and Development (EIIPD) conducted a public lecture at its conference hall on Thursday 7^th of February 2008.The public lecture was organized in collaboration with the Russian Cultural Center in Addis Ababa . The programme was opened by, Ato Mogus T.Michael, the Acting Director General of the Institute, who spoke of the long standing relations between Ethiopia and Russia .

The lecture was delivered by the Russian Scholar, Dr Mikhail L.Volpe, who is Translator, Writer and Specialist in Amharic Literature. The theme of the lecture focused on the ”Current Political Situation of Russia”. The participants were drawn from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the House of Peoples’ Representatives of Ethiopia, Sub –Cities of Addis Ababa, The Addis Ababa Youth Association and other civil society organizations.

In his lecture, Dr Volpe discussed some important aspects of the election system of Russia as well as the coming presidential election in that country. He said that the election is programmed to be conducted in the second March of this year. For this election four candidates have fulfilled the criteria to compete for the presidential office. He also disclosed that one of the criteria to be candidate in the presidential election is to be nominated by a party which has seats in parliament. Failing that a presidential aspirant is required to obtain the signatures of two million supporters from all over Russia to be collected in a few weeks. The incumbent president Mr. Putin is not a candidate, since the Constitution of Russia does not allow him to run for a third term after holding office in two four-year terms.

Questions were posed from the floor regarding freedom of the press in Russia in view of Western criticism of government restrictions and yet President Putin was proclaimed “Man of the Year” by Time Magazine in December 2007.The Magazine’s Man of the Year, the Russian Scholar said, is to indicate the person who dominated the news during the year for good or for bad.

As to control of the media by the ruling party in Russia , the lecturer said this is a fact of life in the country where stability is given preference above all other considerations, particularly as opposed to anarchy in the media.