Putin will not take seat in parliament

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not take a seat in the next Russian parliament, even though he led the ticket of the party that won the overwhelming majority of seats, a Central Elections Commission official said yesterday.

Putin, who is constitutionally obliged to step down as president next year, headed the party list of United Russia, which won 315 of the State Duma's 450 seats in December 2 national elections. But ticket members are not obliged to take seats.

Central Elections Commission secretary Nikolai Konkin was quoted by the Interfax and ITAR-TASS news agencies as saying that Putin's mandate has been handed over to a United Russia member from the Far Eastern region of Magadan.