The Law “On Elections of the President of the Russian Federation” will be amended in a targeted manner by the beginning of the 2024 campaign

A group of United Russia parliamentarians led by Senator Andrei Klishas and Deputy Pavel Krasheninnikov on Thursday submitted to the State Duma a package of amendments to the law “On the elections of the President of the Russian Federation.” Most of the changes repeat the norms previously introduced into the laws “On elections of State Duma deputies” and “On basic guarantees of electoral rights.” For example, 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 another allows only accredited media representatives and observers to take photographs and videos at polling stations.

Presidential elections, according to the relevant law, should take place on March 17, 2024, and the Federation Council will adopt a resolution on their appointment 90–100 days before this date, that is, between December 8 and 18, 2023. Accordingly, a bill from a group of United Russia deputies and senators, synchronizing the legislation on elections at different levels, must be adopted and come into force before the start of the presidential campaign. “It is important that we make amendments in advance so that not only candidates and parties are prepared, but also election commissions at all levels know the rules in advance, because election legislation is very sensitive,” Pavel Krasheninnikov, head of the Duma Committee on State Construction, told Kommersant.

The proposed amendments to the law on presidential elections are basically similar to the changes previously made to the laws on elections of State Duma deputies and on guarantees of voting rights. Thus, the authors propose to legitimize the current practice and allow regional and municipal authorities to allocate money from their budgets “to assist in the preparation and conduct” of federal elections, including payments to members of election commissions and informing voters. Another norm establishes permission to conduct photo and video filming at sites only to persons who have the legal right to do so (duly accredited media representatives and observers). At the same time, filming should not violate the secrecy of voting and the confidentiality of personal data. And only journalists working in editorial offices under an employment contract can be accredited to meetings of election commissions.

The authors also proposed to stipulate in the law on presidential elections the obligation of a candidate who, after registration, suddenly has a criminal record, to report it to the Central Election Commission (CEC) no later than 18:00 Moscow time the next day after its appearance. The maximum cost of producing propaganda materials instead of 100 rubles. per unit of production in the new edition is proposed to be set at 2% of the subsistence level. In addition, the law establishes the rule that the powers of candidates’ proxies are terminated upon expiration of the campaign period.

Finally, one of the few fundamentally new amendments was a rule obliging the party that nominated a foreign agent candidate to inform television and radio broadcasters in writing about his status no later than five days before the broadcast of debates with his participation. If their broadcast should take place less than five days after the corresponding draw, then the party is obliged to inform about the foreign agency of its nominee on the day of the draw.

Representatives of the parliamentary opposition interviewed by Kommersant did not cause any sharp negative reactions to the amendments. Deputy Yuri Sinelshchikov (Communist Party of the Russian Federation) only recalled that recently many changes have been made to the electoral legislation, some of which the communists did not support, and others did not object to. Dmitry Gusev (“A Just Russia – For Truth”) said that his faction will support the new initiative. And Yaroslav Nilov (LDPR) noted that since the last presidential elections, many changes have been made to the legislation, for example, individuals – foreign agents – have appeared. “Now, before the presidential elections, they are synchronizing the law on presidential elections with the law on elections of deputies, and this is generally logical,” the deputy believes, admitting that these are not the last electoral innovations. He also added that the State Building Committee recently returned to the LDPR a bill on a new requirement for presidential candidates – to have mandatory military service experience or grounds for exemption from it.

The Central Election Commission supports the proposed amendments, including additional opportunities for remuneration of members of election commissions from the regional budget, Deputy Chairman of the Central Election Commission Nikolai Bulaev told TASS. According to him, the amendments introduced to the Duma are “a continuation of the work that has been going on since the beginning of 2023,” when changes to the law on guarantees of electoral rights were adopted.

Ksenia Veretennikova