The Federation Council will consider a resolution on calling presidential elections at a meeting on December 7

On Thursday, the Federation Council (FC) will consider the issue of calling the next presidential election. The date of their holding – March 17, 2024 – is determined by federal law, but the time of adoption of the corresponding resolution is chosen by the upper chamber itself within the ten-day period allocated for this procedure. It was initially assumed that the senators would do this only next week, on December 13, but they decided not to delay and to officially launch the presidential campaign on the first possible day.

The question of setting the date for the presidential elections in the Russian Federation will be considered on December 7, he said on Wednesday at a committee meeting The Federation Council on constitutional legislation and state building is chaired by Andrey Klishas. According to him, the ten-day period allotted for this procedure by the federal law “On the elections of the President of the Russian Federation” (“the decision to call elections must be made no earlier than 100 days and no later than 90 days before voting day”) begins to be calculated from December 7, 2023. “We thought, you and I (plenary session.— “Kommersant”) falls on the 7th–13th (December.— “Kommersant”). But we don’t have to put it off, in fact, and consider the issue tomorrow at the plenary meeting,” the senator explained.

According to Art. 5 of the mentioned law, presidential elections are held on the second Sunday of the same month in which they took place last time. The previous vote took place on March 18, 2018, meaning the upcoming elections will fall on March 10, 2024. However, the law has a caveat: if the second Sunday falls in a week that includes a non-working holiday, then voting is postponed to the next one. Therefore, in view of International Women’s Day, which is celebrated on March 8, the elections will be held on March 17.

Andrey Klishas emphasizedthat the upper house acts in strict accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation and federal law: “This is not the first time we have called elections.”

Earlier, “journalists incorrectly calculated the dates” within which the Federation Council should adopt a corresponding resolution, the head of the committee noted: “From the 8th to the 18th (December— “Kommersant”) they think we can call elections. No, from the 7th to the 17th,” Mr. Klishas explained. “The rules for calculating the terms adopted in the electoral legislation suggest that until the elections we must count: the 17th (March 2024.— “Kommersant”) does not count.”

Senator Nikolai Vladimirov, just in case, asked the chairman of the committee: “Will there be a three-day vote?” Andrei Klishas recalled that this issue is within the competence of the Central Election Commission, which must make an appropriate decision within ten days after the publication of the resolution calling elections (this, in turn, must be done “no later than five days after its adoption”). “It’s just that they have already announced that they are planning for three days…” Mr. Vladimirov added hesitantly. In response, Mr. Klishas promised that on Thursday the head of the Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova, will speak to the senators, who will talk about the readiness of the electoral system for the elections and other nuances of the upcoming campaign.

It should be noted that earlier the media, citing sources in the upper house, reported that the Federation Council would consider setting the election date on December 13. The same date was also mentioned by the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov. However, last week the next “plenary meeting” was scheduled not for December 6 (traditionally, meetings of the Federation Council are held every two weeks on Wednesdays), but for December 7 – the first possible day of the period allotted by law.

The nomination of presidential candidates begins after the official publication of the decision to call elections. Let us remind you that the right to nominate candidates without collecting voter signatures belongs to parties that have factions in the State Duma or in at least a third of regional parliaments. To register, nominees of other parties must collect at least 100 thousand autographs, and self-nominated candidates must collect at least 300 thousand.

According to electoral lawyer Anton Rudakov, the senators’ intention to make a decision on calling elections on the first suitable day should not be regarded as a tactical move in anyone’s favor: this is a normal procedural moment. “Preparations for the elections have already begun by all political forces and parties that were planning to take part in them,” says the expert. He reminds that the deadline for submitting documents for registration is counted from the voting date (80–45 days before this day), and the date of the Federation Council decision does not affect them. But the deadlines for self-nomination are calculated from the moment the decision to call elections is published (within 20 days after that). The sooner such a nomination occurs, the more time the candidate has to collect signatures. “Plus, the campaign period for candidates who will be nominated earlier will be a little longer, but this does not apply to campaigning in the media: on television, radio and online publications, its duration is 28 days and is tied to the voting date, and not to the date of calling the elections.” , notes Mr. Rudakov.

Andrey Prah