Sunday, July 03, 2005

 

Reform in Russia

The Moscow Times reported Thursday that a controversial new elections law had passed a second reading in the Duma. Among other power-consolidating moves by the country's elite (sound familiar?), they proposed allowing local elections officials to remove the time-honored practice of providing the option of voting for none of the above.

Yeah, you read that right. In Russia, they actually have a line on the ballot that allows voters the freedom of dissent in the form of rejecting what their political parties offer up as leaders. But there's more.

Under the amendments, passed by 323 votes to 66, electoral blocs of more than one party will be banned, election officials will have the option of taking "against all" off the ballot in regional elections, candidates will be barred if 10 percent of their nomination signatures are invalid and Duma deputies will lose their seats if they switch parties between elections.

But deputies voted against a controversial amendment proposed by some United Russia deputies that would have allowed the country's only directly elected leaders -- the president and mayors -- to run for a third term, in the event of an early election being ruled invalid. The change, if passed, could have provided a way for President Vladimir Putin to run in 2008.

The amendments round off the sweeping changes to the electoral system proposed by Putin last September, which he said were required to fight terrorism and strengthen the state. Opposition parties, however, dismissed the bill as another Kremlin attempt to create a convenient system open to manipulation by the authorities.

|

<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?