Статьи на ту же тему

СМИ о фонде

| 13 января, 2014

Draft law on return of the "against all" vote, set in motion

The Duma Committee on Constitutional Legislation met to discuss a draft law on the question of returning the ‘against all candidates’ vote. As Kommersant reported earlier, the Deputy Chairman of the Committee, Dmitrii Vyatkin, announced before the first reading of the bill that the project had reached a “positive conclusion”. The ‘against all candidates’ vote was abolished during the Russian elections in 2006. The speaker of the Federation Council, Valentina Matviyenko proposed that the vote should be reinstated by early autumn. She was supported by the Prime Minister, the leader of ‘United Russia, Dmitrii Medvedev, who explained that citizens who were part of the opposition movement should now have the opportunity of casting a vote ‘against all candidates’ rather than simply casting a ‘protest’ vote for anyone at all – so long as they are not government candidates (See Kommersant September 30, 2013.) Two weeks later, a group of senators led by Ms Matviyenko introduced the draft law to the State Duma. (Kommersant, October 17, 2013) It is proposed that the new vote should not be implemented for the Presidential elections but only on a regional and local electoral level - and that it should be up to the individual regions to decide whether or not they want to accept or reject its implementation. Experts commented that returning the ‘against all vote’ will serve to erode the protest vote, but at the same time is dangerous for government because it may be used to undermine its legitimacy. An analytic report prepared by the Foundation for Civil Society Development, points out that the vote against all can only reasonably be applied at a municipal level. It could serve as a sign of privation in certain territories and a ‘security barrier’ for ‘corporate control schemes’ outside the municipalities. (See Kommersant, November 7, 2013.)The draft law can be adjusted following its ratification after the first reading.

Maxim Ivanov, Kommersant