RUSSIA - Oct 29 - Putin Plan For Political Overhaul Easily Passes Its First Vote.

The lower house of Parliament takes its first step toward adopting Pres Putin's sweeping overhaul of the country's political system, despite signs of popular dissent, particularly in regions distant from the capital. After demonstrators protested for a second day, the Parliament voted overwhelmingly to accept a core segment of Putin's proposals: replacing popular elections of governors and other leaders of 89 regions through Kremlin appointments. Although the proposal passed easily in its first reading, with 365 deputies in favor and 64 against, opponents vowed to continue challenging it. Leaders of the Communist Party vowed to file suit, while some regional assemblies have publicly called for amendments that would significantly weaken the proposal's main provisions. "We are not cattle", said Irina Khakamada, a liberal leader who unsuccessfully challenged Putin's re-election in March. She was speaking to hundreds of demonstrators who had gathered near the Parliament before the vote, according to Ekho Moskvy radio. The rally drew members of several opposition parties, including some parliamentary deputies, who gathered in a rare display of unity to defend voters' rights. The spirited public debate surrounding Putin's plans - unusual in itself, given the Kremlin's absolute dominance over politics - suggested a watershed in Russia's history.

Thirteen years after the Soviet Union's collapse, some of the foundations of the country's still-fresh experience with independence and democracy are being reconsidered. In a separate step, heavy with symbolism, a parliamentary committee introduced legislation that would abolish the national holiday commemorating the Bolshevik revolution of October 1917, although it is called by a different name: the Day of Accord and Reconciliation. A draft of the legislation said Russia needs to rethink holidays with an "obsolete ideological basis". The holiday, now celebrated Nov. 7, based on the Georgian calendar adopted by the Soviet Union after the revolution, "deals with the Soviet period of Russian history that, to this or that extent, is a source of tension in society", the draft said. The Day of Accord would be replaced with a holiday on Nov 4, reaching deep into the country's pre-Soviet past to mark the liberation of Moscow from Polish domination in 1612. At a time when opponents are denouncing Putin's political overhaul as unconstitutional, the proposed legislation also would abolish Constitution Day, which is celebrated Dec 12. Under Russian law, legislation must pass three votes, or "readings", before moving to the upper house, the Federation Council, which, like the lower house, is dominated by Putin loyalists. A second vote, when most amendments could be made, is expected in November. Putin ordered the changes to the political system after the terrorist siege of Middle School No. 1 in Beslan, which ended in chaos and death on Sept 3. At least 330 hostages died, half of them schoolchildren, according to the official count. Putin and his allies have justified the proposals, which would also end district elections for half of the Parliament's 450 seats, by arguing that they would strengthen executive power across a vast and at times unruly country. Many of those most affected - governors, presidents and other leaders of the country's republics and regions - have lined up behind the proposal to eliminate their electoral mandates, but cracks have appeared in the Kremlin's control. Pres Mintimer Shaimiev of Tatarstan, a mostly Muslim republic in central Russia, reversed his initial public support for Putin after the republic's Parliament voted this week to oppose significant parts of the proposals. Another strong backer of Putin, Governor Valentina Matviyenko of the city of St. Petersburg, provoked a storm of protest when she told a magazine that Russians instinctively support authoritarian rule. "A Russian person's mentality requires a lord, a czar, a president", she said in an interview with Itogi magazine. A human rights group responded to the comments with a call for her resignation. Local legislatures in several other regions, including Kaliningrad, Yaroslavl and Bashkiria, have also adopted resolutions in recent weeks raising objections to Putin's proposals, particularly to a provision that would allow the president to disband any legislature that twice rejected his appointees. While it remained doubtful the opposition could become an insurmountable obstacle, Nikolai Petrov, an analyst at the Moscow Carnegie Center, said the Kremlin would have to navigate regional sensitivities carefully to avoid inflaming popular dissent and even ethnic tensions. Such tensions were among the concerns Putin cited in proposing to have the president appoint regional leaders. Petrov said: "There is very serious opposition. It is not so open, not so public. And it will not be so easy to deal with it".