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ELECTION COMMISSION AMENDS ELECTORAL LEGISLATION

MOSCOW, September 1 (RIA Novosti) -- Yesterday, Russia's Central Election Commission approved by ten votes to one the analytical note "On the Practice of Holding Federal Elections, Elections to State Power Bodies in Federation Members in 2002-2004 and Proposals to Amend Individual Provisions of the Russian Law on Elections and Referenda." The authors of the document, VN explains, put forward a series of drastic changes to the election system. The main one was a transition to the State Duma elections based on party lists alone. The Central Election Commission intends to require that each party create at least 72 regional groups, or even 89 of them, one group in each Russian Federation member.

However, Yevgeny Kolyushin, a member of the commission, unexpectedly suggested to his colleagues that they discard the plan to cancel single-mandate constituencies. "In the G7 countries, elections are based on party lists alone, but they have the majority principle, because a proportionate system provides for party interests at the expense of the voters' interests," said Kolyushin.

The two-hour debates ended with nearly unanimous adoption of the note. Mr Kolyushin was the only one who refused to agree to the strictly proportionate system. The legal amendments worked out on the basis of the note are expected to be adopted in December at the latest. According to Alexander Veshnyakov, head of the Central Election Commission, parties will then have three years to prepare themselves for the elections based on the new rules.