Federation Council speaker Sergey Mironov (right) refrained from criticizing the election bill during the voting debate but expressed his dissatisfaction after the bill was adopted.
Photo: Dmitry Dukhanin
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Russia Scraps Minimum Turnout Quotas in Elections
The Federation Council passed amendments on Friday scrapping minimum turnout requirements for elections to be pronounced valid. The Council’s speaker and leader of the Fair Russia Party Sergey Mironov lashed out at United Russia’s amendments and voted against them but did not express his opinion during the debate.
On November 15, the State Duma passed the amendments to election law that abolish minimum turnout requirements for all elections, including parliamentary and presidential ones. They also prohibit candidates to criticize their rivals during election campaigns and ban people behind the bars from running in elections.
Federation Council speaker and leader of Russia’s new left Sergey Mironov has been a consistent critic of the amendments. 25 senators who are members of Sergey Mironov’s party were expected to vote against the law. The amendments, however, has recently endorsed at special sessions of six committees of the Federation Council.
Contrary to Mironov’s expectorations, there were few people to oppose the amendments. Only senators from Tuva, Udmurtia and Krasnoyarsk Territory spoke up against the law which will make it possible to consider elections valid irrespective of the number of people who actually come to the polls. Viktor Shudegov from Udmurtia said the abolition of turnout requirements could question the legitimacy of presidential elections if, say, only 10 percent of voters come to cast their ballots.
Mironov, however, did not comment or criticize the bill during the pre-voting debate. The bill was passed 112-7 with 6 abstentions. Speaking to the press after the voting, the leader of Fair Russia let himself go, calling the new law “a dangerous trend” and saying he fears that election laws could be further amendment before new Duma and presidential elections.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 25, 2006
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