GROZNY, Russia, July 29 (UPI) -- Chechnya's regional parliament has voted for constitutional changes that would allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to run for a third term.
Lawmakers in the regional parliament voted unanimously for the measure. It asks the upper house of the Russian parliament to begin the removal of a constitutional restriction that limits Russia's president to two consecutive terms in office, Novosti reports.
Putin said this month the Russian constitution would not be amended. Under the constitution, a president may remain in office for two consecutive terms and is entitled to run for a third term after at least one term of absence.
Putin succeeded Boris Yeltsin as president on Dec. 31, 1999. He won his second term on March 14, 2004. His current term expires in 2008.
"The People's Assembly has passed a relevant resolution, and all members of the People's Assembly unanimously supported it," Speaker Dukuvakha Abdurakhmanov said of the proposal to change the Russian constitution.
Abdurakhmanov said keeping Putin in office was necessary not only to the Chechnya but also to Russia as a whole, Novosti reported.
