03.02.09

The Duma voted on January 23 to pass amendments to electoral legislation, abolishing the monetary bond requirement for federal, regional, and local elections. The Duma minority attempted to argue that passing such amendments during an escalating crisis is "a grave political error."

From 1993, parties (and individual candidates in single- mandate districts) seeking to participate in elections were required to collect a certain number of signatures (the current requirement is 250,000). In 1998, an alternative to signature- collecting was introduced: lodging a bond (the current requirement is 60 million rubles). Opposition parties have usually preferred to use bonds, since any party can be barred from elections in the signature-collecting process if the Central Electoral Commission's spot-tests show that over 5% of the signatures are invalid or flawed. Parties already represented in the Duma have been exempt from the requirement to collect signatures or lodge bonds.

In his address to parliament on November 5, 2008, President Dmitri Medvedev said that the bond requirement should be abolished for elections at all levels. A bill written by Perm regional lawmakers, abolishing bonds for federal elections, had already been submitted to the Duma.

The Duma's debates on January 23 were intense. Lawmakers from the LDPR and Just Russia factions said that the idea of removing bonds from the Russian electoral system "is aimed against opposition parties." No longer able to lodge bonds, opposition parties and emerging parties will have to collect signatures. Deputy Duma Speaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky (LDPR) said that citizens would be reluctant to contribute signatures to such parties, since "the public is being intimidates." Gennadi Gudkov (Just Russia) agreed, noting that the police are involved in verifying signatures during elections: "Our valiant law enforcement agencies have been turned into a tool for settling scores." Moreover, said Gudkov, abolishing bonds also makes it more difficult for "many people at the regional and municipal levels, who are not connected to any parties," to participate in elections.

According to Gudkov, this move is "a very grave political error." He noted that elections are "the one and only mechanism for our country to develop without conflict." If citizens lose access to elections, with a growing crisis under way, "the socio- political situation could escalate to the point where federal laws would no longer function."

But the opposition factions' arguments made no impact on United Russia's opinion. "This bill will expand democracy, not narrow it," said Nikolai Gonchar (United Russia), calling on opposition lawmakers to "think of our country's future, rather than trying to increase their own numbers in parliament."

Eventually, the amendments bill was passed by the votes of the United Russia and Communist Party factions. The Communists said they were voting on the basis of ideological considerations, since they believe that only a "bourgeois democracy" would involve money in elections.

Sergei Mironov, Federation Council speaker and Just Russia leader, expressed approval of the amendments - while adding that the signature-collecting requirement should also be abolished. According to Mironov, political parties which are officially registered with the Justice Ministry "have already passed through complex procedures concerning minimal membership numbers and regional branch numbers." Mironov suggested that the signature collection process is inevitably accompanied by irregularities and frequent fraud. Mironov said: "I know from my own experience that errors can be found in the signature lists of any party at all, given the will to find them."

Medvedev also mentioned the possibility of "gradually reducing the number of voter signatures that must be collected for participation in Duma elections." However, no amendments to that effect have been submitted to the Duma as yet.

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Source: Kommersant