Putin Adds Party Chief To His New Portfolio

MOSCOW, April 15 -- Vladimir Putin was elected Tuesday to lead the United Russia party when he steps down as president, enhancing the power he will wield in his upcoming post as prime minister and bolstering his chances for a potential return to the presidency.

At a party congress that mixed promises of a bright future with traditions from the communist era, more than 550 delegates unanimously approved Putin as chairman of Russia's most powerful political faction.

Speaking three weeks before he will cede the presidency to the successor he selected, Dmitry Medvedev, Putin said the move would help ensure that Russia's political bosses and bureaucrats functioned as a "single organism" for the good of the people. "Today even more than before, we need the consolidation of political forces and the spiritual unity of our people," he told the congress in an exhibition center off Red Square.

Some analysts called Putin's decision the strategic maneuver of a control-minded leader determined to head off potential challenges, and said it would undermine Medvedev by boosting the authority of Putin and parliament.

As party head, "Putin will maintain a firm and effective mechanism of control over Medvedev," said Dmitry Oreshkin, head of the Mercator Group, a Moscow consulting firm. "In fact, Putin is trying to keep all the administrative resources in his hands."

At the congress, Putin sat flanked by Medvedev and United Russia leader Boris Gryzlov, who will continue to run the party's day-to-day affairs when Putin becomes chairman May 7, the day Medvedev takes the oath of office.

In words that recalled the Soviet-era party congresses that drew delegates from all walks of life, Putin said his audience included "scientists and engineers, doctors and teachers, businessmen and workers, artists and journalists, servicemen and builders, fishermen and agricultural workers, pensioners and youth."

Putin has never been a member of the party, instead cultivating the image of a figure who is above party politics -- which many Russians see as a corrupt, crass business.

Tuesday's events capped a year of maneuvering by Putin to maintain power after he leaves the presidency. Constitutionally barred from seeking a third straight term, he pronounced Medvedev his favored successor. Later, Putin said he would become prime minister.

His term as chairman of United Russia is to run for four years, giving him a parliamentary power base and a potential springboard for a return to the Kremlin in 2012, when he can legally seek a third term.

Putin, 55, and Medvedev, 42, both stress they will govern as a team, and Medvedev has pledged to stick to the course Putin has set.