RUSSIAN FEDERATION FEDERAL LAW

The Federal Law "On Basic Guarantees of Electoral Rights and the Right of Citizens of the Russian Federation to Participate in a Referendum" has been adopted by the lawmaker to take into account the experience of the election campaigns and referenda (held in 1999 - 2002), the latest legislation on political parties, the judicial practice in adjudication of electoral disputes, decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation.

Several new provisions of the Federal Law concern the role of political parties in the electoral process.

Firstly, only political parties and their regional branches are recognized as electoral associations in federal and regional elections; in elections to bodies of local self government such recognition is also extended to other public associations established and registered in the form of a public organization or public movement. It must be noted that for two years after entry into force of the Federal Law "On Political Parties" (up to 14 July 2003) not only political parties but also All-Russian political public associations established and registered under the current Federal Law "On Public Associations" will be recognized as electoral associations.

Secondly, the concept "electoral bloc" has been modified: now an electoral bloc is not only an election alliance of two and more electoral associations but also an alliance of one or several political parties which are electoral associations with one or two All-Russian public associations (organizations, movements), whose charters provide for participation in elections. An electoral bloc may consist of not more than three members.

Thirdly, the law encourages participation of political parties in elections of various levels. Thus, candidates, lists of candidates nominated by political parties and electoral blocs will be registered without collection of voter signatures and payment of an electoral deposit, provided the federal lists of these political parties and electoral blocs gained the right to participate in the distribution of deputy mandates on the basis of the results of the nearest previous elections to the State Duma (which will be held after entry into force of this Federal Law).

Fourthly, a proportionate system is introduced in elections to the legislative (representative) bodies of state power in the subjects of the Russian Federation in respect of not less than one half of deputy mandates which are distributed between the lists of candidates nominated by electoral associations (i.e., political parties) and electoral blocs. This Federal Law establishes a transitional period lasting up to 14 July 2003 to allow the legislation in the regions to be brought in line with this requirement. This rule is not mandatory for the subjects of the Russian Federation where less than three regional branches of All-Russian political parties have been registered.

Fifthly, not less than one half of the members of election commissions in the subjects of the Russian Federation must be appointed on the basis of proposals of political parties which are represented by factions in the State Duma or regional parliament; the former quota was three members.

The Federal Law puts up additional obstacles to the abuse of the so-called "administrative resource." To preclude the possible use of the administrative resource the law provides that not only civil and municipal servants but also persons who hold state offices of category "A" in the bodies of executive or judicial power or elective municipal offices (with the exception of President of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Government acting as President, deputies of the legislative (representative) bodies of state power and deputies of the representative bodies of local self-government), when registered as candidates, must be released from the performance their official duties for the period of their participation in elections.

The persons who are not candidates and hold state and municipal offices must not use the advantages of their official position or status for self-nomination and/or election of any candidate, list of candidates. Persons holding state offices of category "A" or elective municipal offices cannot be agents of candidates, electoral associations or blocs. Neither are such person allowed to conduct election propaganda in the mass media.

To increase the legitimacy of elections of heads of executive power in the subjects of the Russian Federation several provisions of the Federal Law aim at reforming the regional election system. For instance, obligatory repeat voting is provided for in elections of heads of executive power (highest-ranking officials) in the subjects of the Russian Federation if none of the candidates receives more than 50 percent of the vote. In the past, a half of the regions did not have this rule.

The regional lawmaker is granted the right to include provisions for postal voting in the law of a subject of the Russian Federation.

Substantial changes have been made in the procedure for the formation of election commissions - from the election commission of a subject of the Russian Federation to a precinct election commission. The main purpose of the changes is to make election commissions more independent from bodies of power and officials.

The law raises the responsibility of election commissions of all levels and establishes responsibility of separate commission members. Thus, a commission may be dissolved if it fails to carry out court decisions or decisions of higher election commissions. It is important to note that such responsibility provisions apply to all election commissions, including the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation. Moreover, commissions which are not concerned with organization of elections may be dissolved even during election campaigns. If an administrative punishment is imposed by a court on a member of an election commission for violation of election laws, this member must be removed from the commission.

A new provision of the law establishes a mandatory requirement that the chairman of the election commission of a subject of the Russian Federation must have a higher legal education or an academic degree in the field of law.

The law provides for a need to introduce an electoral deposit as an alternative to collection of signatures for registration of a candidate.

The law now requires candidates running for election in the subjects of the Russian Federation to submit information about their income, property, bank deposits and securities according to the form established by the Federal Law. The law no longer provides that registration of a candidate may be refused or annulled for submission of inaccurate information about the income and property. If verification of such information shows it to be inaccurate, this fact must be made known to voters who will decide themselves what candidates they want to vote for. However, concealment of information about a non-cancelled, non-expired conviction and about foreign citizenship will be regarded as a possible reason for canceling a candidate's registration.

To strengthen the legal guarantees of electoral rights and the right of citizens of the Russian Federation to participate in a referendum the law introduces a rule under which in the absence of a law on a regional referendum in a subject of the Russian Federation or if the existing legal basis is inadequate a referendum may be held on the basis of the decrees of the President of the Russian Federation. This procedure applies in similar situations to the election of bodies of state power of a subject of the Russian Federation, bodies of local self-government if the period of their powers expired or these powers were terminated before expiry of this period.

Many provisions of the Federal Law are directed to improvement of the electoral system of the Russian Federation as a whole. The period of election campaigns is now reduced to 80 - 110 days for federal elections (in the past, this period was up to 150 days), to 80 - 100 days for regional elections and to 70 - 80 days for local elections.

The concepts "election propaganda" and "informational activity" are defined more clearly. In order to differentiate between election propaganda and other informational activity the Federal Law lists the actions which are to be recognized as propaganda.

The propaganda period commences after nomination of candidates (lists of candidates) and, therefore, a candidate or representatives of an electoral association (bloc) may engage in propaganda activities already during collection of signatures. Propaganda in the mass media may the conducted only during the last month before election day.

The law establishes that during the period of elections and referenda their results cannot be objects of lotteries, pari-mutuels (bets) and other games based on risk.

Under the law registration of a candidate can be annulled only by a court and a court must hand down its decision on this issue not later than five days before election day. At the same time, the list of grounds on which registration of a candidate may be annulled by a court is substantially decreased.

A new rule has been introduced, according to which the plan of single-mandate constituencies in elections to the State Duma must be submitted for discussion to the lower chamber of parliament 80 days before the day on which elections are called. The State Duma will have two months to consider and approve the plan of single-mandate constituencies. If, during this period, the plan of single-mandate constituencies is not approved but the old plan does not meet the requirements of the Federal Law and cannot be used to hold elections, a new plan will be approved by the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation. The same principle will apply to elections to bodies of state power in the subjects of the Russian Federation and to representative bodies of local self-government.

The law does not allow early voting in the offices of territorial and precinct election commissions in elections to federal bodies of state power, bodies of state power of the subjects of the Russian Federation, in a referendum of the Russian Federation, referendum of a subject of the Russian Federation.

The concept "falsification of voting results" is clarified and criminal responsibility is established for this offence. Relevant amendments will be made the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

The law establishes that only the State Automatic System (SAS) of the Russian Federation "Vybory" may be used in elections, specifically, when voting results are determined. No other systems may be applied, with the only possible exception of software products certified within the framework of the SAS "Vybory."

Possibilities are extended for the use of technical facilities to count votes at precinct polling stations. The voting results that have been obtained at the polling station by means of technical facilities will not require manual re-counting. The precinct election commission will compile its protocol on the basis on the data obtained by means of technical facilities, and, if no doubts are expressed by the members of the commission and by observers, this protocol will be signed in the established procedure. At the same time, it is suggested that verificatory re-counting of votes should be carried out at some of the precinct polling stations where technical facilities were used. Such precincts will be chosen by lot in accordance with the procedure set out in the law, under the control of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation.

If the data of manual re-counting differs from the results of automatic vote counting, the votes that were counted by the conventional method (manually) will be adopted as a legal basis and manual re-counting of votes shall be carried out in all precincts of the given territory.

As a result of implementation of these and other provisions of the law the electoral rights of citizens of Russia will be protected more reliably, the voters will receive more information about candidates and will be able to make a more rational choice when deciding to whom the authority or deputy powers are to be entrusted.