Russian senators passed a law repealing Putin’s previous terms



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This document aligns Russia’s electoral and referendum laws with previously approved constitutional amendments.

The law clarifies current restrictions on working in the presidency for more than two terms.

The law on “Presidential Elections of the Russian Federation” stipulates that a Russian citizen who has already held this office for two terms or has held the office of President of Russia on the day of the official announcement of the decision on the presidential election may not be elected president.

However, this law does not take into account the number of previous terms held and / or occupied by the president at the time of the entry into force of the amendments to the Russian Constitution.

The constitutional provision has also been transposed into the electoral law according to which a person not less than 35 years of age, with permanent residence in Russia for at least 25 years, who does not have or has previously had a foreign citizenship or a permit or other document authorizing residence abroad can be elected president of Russia.

It states that this non-nationality requirement does not apply to Russian citizens who “previously had the nationality of a state that was admitted or part of which was admitted to the Russian Federation.”

The law also specifies the conditions under which a Russian citizen does not have the right to be elected a member of the State Duma. Among them, the listed crimes committed and convicted by convicted Russian citizens who have not been convicted on Election Day and have not been punished for these crimes cannot participate in the elections. This prohibition is valid for five years from the revocation of the conviction or the execution of the sentence.

The law was prepared by Andrejus Klišas, Chairman of the State Duma Constitutional Law Committee, Pavel Krašeninkovas, Head of the State Duma Development and Legislation Committee, and Olga Savastjanova, Head of the Duma Control and Regulation Committee .

The constitutional amendment on the so-called “cancellation” of former presidential terms, which gives Putin the opportunity to run again in the 2024 elections, was started a year ago by Valentina Tereshkova, a member of the State Duma, the first woman in taking up space.

This initiative was supported by the president of the Federation Council, Valentina Matviyenko.

“It seems to me that the proposals put forward by Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova will now reassure everyone, put all the dots on the” i, “V. Matviyenko told reporters last March.

“Your opinion that it is (necessary) to give the Russian president the opportunity to be elected to the presidency in 2024 seems very timely,” he emphasized.

According to the president of the Federation Council, the question of what will happen to Russia after 2024 has recently been raised with great concern.

“It just came to our notice then. We see how serious the processes are: businesses are concerned, investors are concerned, and of course this is affecting the stability of the country. There are attempts to destroy it, attempts to weaken Russia, of pursue a policy of isolation. And most of our so-called partners are already rubbing their hands on how they will work with Russia without Putin, “Mavtijenko said.

Therefore, according to the president of the Duma, V. Tereshkova’s proposal is timely.

“A huge country with nuclear potential, the most serious international actor in the world. “… Considerations about who will be the successor, what will happen to security and other processes that are still concerning,” he said.

Matviyenko called the assumption unfounded that the constitutional amendments were organized to “keep Putin in power.”

“If the Russian president simply wants to stay in power, believe me, there are more than enough legal means to do so.” This could be done without touching the Constitution. In this case, a fair and direct path has been proposed, “he said.

“The president for life”

Putin came to power in 2000 and served two four-year terms as president, then handed the seat over to his ally, Dmitry Medvedev. After the latter served a term as president, Putin returned to the helm of the Kremlin in 2012.

Putin announced constitutional reforms last year that would also pave the way for him to stay in power longer. He won the 2018 elections with a large majority of votes and his current term will end in 2024.

The proposal to revoke previous presidential terms was made at the last minute before lawmakers voted on the reforms and critics accused Putin of becoming “a president for life.”

A referendum on constitutional amendments was originally scheduled for April 22, but had to be postponed due to a coronavirus outbreak. A plebiscite was held during the weekly period of June and July in order, according to the authorities, to reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus among the participants. Almost 78 percent. the voters voted for the reforms.

A new date was set after Putin declared the epidemic had already peaked and officials soon began announcing a decline in the number of new infections.

Critics of the Kremlin, for their part, condemned the vote as a sham and accused the government of risking the lives of its citizens as Russia’s coronavirus outbreak continued.

Russians were often asked to vote in TV commercials, not to mention a clause that would essentially resume Putin’s tenure in the Kremlin from scratch.

The independent election observer, Golos, said he had received hundreds of complaints of irregularities, such as more than one vote and alleged cases of pressure from employers to vote.

A law passed last week by the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, will allow Putin to run again in presidential elections at the end of his current term in 2024. The bill, approved by senators, must now be signed. by the head of state.

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