By RIA Novosti
Moscow : Russia’s lower house of parliament Friday approved financial watchdog chief Viktor Zubkov as prime minister, two days after he was nominated by President Vladimir Putin.
In the state Duma vote, 381 lawmakers backed Zubkov, 47 voted against, and eight abstained.
Zubkov needed 200 votes to be elected to the post. He will formally assume office after the president signs a decree.
Putin dismissed the government and nominated the relatively unknown Zubkov, 65, for the post of premier Wednesday, three months before parliamentary elections and six months before presidential polls, in a move experts say was designed to ensure the succession to power after the incumbent president steps down.
The prime minister-designate is now expected to present his proposals on changing the federal structure and nominate new ministers and deputy premiers within a week.
He won an easy majority in the chamber dominated by the Kremlin-backed United Russia party, which promised overwhelming support ahead of the vote, along with A Just Russia party and the Liberal Democrats, led by ultra-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky.
Communist party leader Gennady Zyuganov refused to back Putin’s nominee, saying he would pursue Kremlin policies and would be unable to make any changes. He earlier said the vote “looks more like a commando operation than a democratic vote.”
Speaking to lawmakers before voting, Zubkov pledged his commitment to policies pursued by President Putin, and called for changes to the government’s structure, and greater individual responsibility.
“The priorities for my job will be the strategic guidelines and action plan outlined in the president’s address to parliament – sustainable economic and social development by streamlining government activities and raising officials’ personal responsibility,” he said.
He suggested that an anti-corruption law should be adopted and a corresponding body established, confirmed plans to reshuffle the government’s much-criticized welfare sector, and voiced his opposition to media censorship.
In 1999-2001, Zubkov was deputy tax minister, then first deputy finance minister, and finally headed the Federal Financial Monitoring Service.