President Dmitry Medvedev said Russian political parties should compete to prevent authoritarian or totalitarian tendencies from developing.
"Lawful competition... would not weaken the state. I believe we need to move toward a society based on a balanced representation of several parties. Ultimately, parties that would replace each other in power," he told the Vedomosti business daily.
"I agree that the presence of rivaling forces ultimately revitalizes the situation," the president said.
Currently the ruling United Russia party has 315 out of 450 seats in the lower house of parliament, the State Duma.
MOSCOW, January 26 (RIA Novosti)
