The Duma has amended the legislation on presidential elections – Kommersant

The State Duma on Tuesday adopted in the second reading two bills related to presidential elections. The first of them – a package of amendments directly to the law “On the elections of the President of the Russian Federation” – was submitted to the chamber on October 5 by a group of deputies and senators led by the chairmen of the legislative committees of the State Duma and the Federation Council Pavel Krasheninnikov and Andrei Klishas. The document was approved in the first reading on October 17. The proposed amendments are basically similar to the changes previously made to the laws on elections of State Duma deputies and on guarantees of voting rights. In particular, one of these innovations allows regional and municipal authorities to allocate money from their budgets to pay members of election commissions and inform voters, while the other allows only accredited media representatives and observers to take photographs and videos at polling stations.

In addition, a bill from the parliament of Kabardino-Balkaria was approved, to which the authors of the first initiative on October 23 introduced a number of amendments regulating the holding of elections (including presidential ones) under martial law. According to these changes, the Central Election Commission can establish the specifics of the preparation and conduct of presidential elections in the Russian Federation during the period of martial law in part of the country’s territory. Photo and video filming in voting premises located in military units is permitted only by accredited media representatives and in agreement with the commander of the relevant military unit. At polling stations outside Russia, the start and end times of voting may be changed by decision of the head of the diplomatic mission or consular office of the Russian Federation, if the conduct of elections may pose a threat to the life and health of citizens. The Central Election Commission and the Russian Foreign Ministry must be promptly informed about this.

The third reading of both bills is scheduled for October 25.

Ksenia Veretennikova