Russia’s Duma Reelects Communist

A Communist was elected speaker of the Russian parliament at this year’s first session Tuesday, a vote that came after about 100 opposition lawmakers walked out of the hall in protest.

Gennady N. Seleznyov, who was chairman in the previous Duma, or lower house, was overwhelmingly reelected after a speech by acting President Vladimir V. Putin, who urged lawmakers to stop fighting with the presidency and start tackling the country’s problems.

He also used the occasion to dismiss suggestions by critics that he intends to become a dictator.

“Those who speak of a dictatorship are the same who dream of one. In modern Russia, this dream of theirs is unattainable,” Putin told reporters.

Some lawmakers complained that the Communists and the pro-government Unity bloc, which have the two largest factions in the new Duma, had made a behind-the-scenes deal to support Seleznyov and forced their decision on other, smaller factions.

Seleznyov’s foes, former Prime Ministers Yevgeny M. Primakov and Sergei V. Stepashin and liberal lawmaker Viktor Pokhmelkin, withdrew their candidacies before the vote to protest what they called “collusion” between the Communists and the pro-government Unity party.

“What we have today is a real profanation,” Primakov said. “It’s a real collusion, which will prevent the State Duma from working effectively in the future.”

Three Duma factions--Primakov’s Fatherland-All Russia, liberal Yabloko and the Union of Right Forces--then walked out of the session hall in protest. Some members of a fourth faction, Regions of Russia, also joined the walkout, leaving fewer than 300 members of the 450-seat Duma in their seats for the election.

After the vote, Seleznyov played down the controversy.

“In a week, we will have forgotten this incident already,” he said, according to the Interfax news agency.

The vote followed Putin’s call on lawmakers to begin constructive cooperation with the government.

“The executive power is prepared for fruitful cooperation with the new Duma,” Putin said. “We must put an end to the policy of confrontation and rival ambitions.”

The Communists, who controlled the old Duma, had strongly pushed for Seleznyov’s reelection. The speaker is key in determining how the legislature handles its daily business and deals with the executive.

Seleznyov appeared a convenient candidate for the government because of his past record. During his first tenure as chairman, Seleznyov proved ready for compromise and was even criticized by fellow Communists as being too pro-Kremlin.