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#3 - JRL 2006-280 - JRL Home
Regnum.ru
www.Regnum.Ru
December 14, 2006
Presidential election in Russia to be held on March 9, 2008
http://regnum.ru/english/755295.html

Next presidential election in Russia will be held on the second Sunday of March, 2008, Chair of the Russian Central Election Commission (CEC) Alexander Veshnyakov announced at a news conference in Stavropol on December 13. As a REGNUM correspondent reports, the head of the CEC said the election will be held on March 9, 2008.

Election campaign will start in first decade of December 2007. Parliamentary elections to the Russian State Duma will be held on the first Sunday of December, 2007, which is December 2. The CEC head also noted that he did not find it possible to settle legally the issue of obligatory participation in voting in Russia. For instance, in the United States, every citizen settles the question of his or her participation in elections on his/her own. Russia, in accordance with the constitution, has come through the same way. And such democratic countries like Australia, Belgium and Greece envisage obligatory participation of citizens in elections and even fines for non-participation.

According to Alexander Veshnyakov, the Russian constitution should not be changed in order to please politicians. Moreover, this will not raise the turnout.