Russian President Dmitry Medvedev proposed on Thursday holding primary elections to select candidates for governors' elections.
Medvedev said he had "positive feelings" about gubernatorial primaries.
"There is something in it and it is also in the interests of our people," he said during a meeting with a number of Russian governors .
A bill currently going through parliament would reinstate direct elections of regional governors, a practice abolished by then-President Vladimir Putin in 2004.
Medvedev, who steps down in May, has seen off about a third of governors from their posts in his four years as president.
He also spoke against any "excessive barriers," saying candidates should not be subjected to a presidential "filter."
"We shouldn't filter anything, let the people choose the governors themselves," he said.
In the meeting at his Gorki residence just outside Moscow, Medvedev instructed the governors to work on the proposal but warned against turning the primaries into "a business."
He said that because of the new law simplifying requirements for the registration of political parties, which he signed earlier this week, there was a risk that Russia's regions would be "flooded" with "rogues," "city madmen" or "village fools."
