Russia's State Duma has passed amendments that move all the country's regional elections to September. Opposition parties are claiming that the move could restrict campaigning, which would have to take place in summertime, and further impede new politicians and parties' efforts to enter politics.

file photoA total of 235 United Russia lawmakers in the 450-seat parliament backed the bill in a second reading Friday, fixing the date for regional elections as the second Sunday of September, starting in 2013.

Pro-Kremlin lawmakers defended the change as a logical one, given Russia's weather.

"The second Sunday of September is a perfect date for many Russian territories, as the weather is most comfortable at this time of the year," bill sponsor Vladimir Pligin, the chairman of the Duma's Constitutional Legislation Committee, was cited by the United Russia website as saying.

The idea to vote in September has been backed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, now United Russia's chairman. "September is a good month, a warm one, people are in a good mood, one feels like voting," Medvedev, then the outgoing president, said at a meeting with governors in April.

Dacha factor

Speaking in the Duma debate last Friday, one of the critics of the new legislation, Just Russia deputy Sergei Doronin, pointed out that on the second Sunday of September the turnout would be very low as "tens of millions of people will be at their dachas, not in town."

A Duma deputy speaker, the Communist party's Ivan Melnikov, added that "campaigns will fall on summer ­ late July and August ­ the peak of the vacation season and the anticlimax of political life."

But United Russia deputies argued that pre-election campaigning wasn't as important as long-term work by parties.

"Some are complaining that August is a dead month, that it's inconvenient for them to campaign. It makes no sense, as it should take years not months to win voters' trust," United Russia deputy Vladimir Burmatov was cited by the party's website as saying.

The liberal opposition saw the change as another Kremlin trick to try to stack elections in United Russia's favor, but said they were undeterred.

"This is another initiative meant to torpedo election campaigns, but we are determined to take part in regional elections nevertheless," Boris Nemtsov told The Moscow News. A co-leader of the Solidarnost liberal movement, Nemtsov is also on the board of the Republican Party of Russia-People's Freedom Party, registered earlier this year after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that it was unfairly denied registration four years ago.

Monitoring problems

Lilia Shibanova, the Executive Director of the Golos independent election watchdog, told The Moscow News that having regional elections only once a year could complicate monitoring. "We cover more regions now than we will when elections... take place on the same day," she said. "We'll have to choose where to deploy our monitors, leaving certain precincts unattended," she said.

Shibanova said that regional elections should be held twice a year, preferably in November and in late March or early April.

Election expert Alexander Kynev, the head of regional programs at the Moscow-based Foundation for Information Policy Development, said that the Kremlin would benefit from the new law because when the turnout is low, the share of state employees voting in elections is high, and they deliver the "right" results.

Smaller talent pool?

"Many voters will not see an election campaign at all, and will vote for candidates they know little about, let alone the challenge to collect signatures of voters or municipal legislators in gubernatorial elections," Kyney wrote in a recent report, analyzing the effects of the new legislation.

Moves that restrict the entry of new parties and politicians into local and regional government would tend to shrink the talent pool and could lead to deterioration in the quality of governance, Kynev said in his report.

Holding elections on various dates around the calendar helps to determine a more accurate picture of public opinion, and makes the political system more stable, Kynev's report said. "An unexpected event that causes a short-term reaction, such as a man-made disaster or a terrorist attack, has an unduly big impact on... an [election] campaign," he said.

On the other hand, Kynev said that the new law might backfire on the Kremlin. "When Putin's popularity peaked in 2007 and 2008, it gave United Russia an additional advantage, but now the situation is very different," Kynev said.

Keywords: Russia, Politics, Elections - Russian News - Russia

Russia's State Duma has passed amendments that move all the country's regional elections to September. Opposition parties are claiming that the move could restrict campaigning, which would have to take place in summertime, and further impede new politicians and parties' efforts to enter politics.

file photoA total of 235 United Russia lawmakers in the 450-seat parliament backed the bill in a second reading Friday, fixing the date for regional elections as the second Sunday of September, starting in 2013.

Pro-Kremlin lawmakers defended the change as a logical one, given Russia's weather.

"The second Sunday of September is a perfect date for many Russian territories, as the weather is most comfortable at this time of the year," bill sponsor Vladimir Pligin, the chairman of the Duma's Constitutional Legislation Committee, was cited by the United Russia website as saying.

The idea to vote in September has been backed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, now United Russia's chairman. "September is a good month, a warm one, people are in a good mood, one feels like voting," Medvedev, then the outgoing president, said at a meeting with governors in April.

Dacha factor

Speaking in the Duma debate last Friday, one of the critics of the new legislation, Just Russia deputy Sergei Doronin, pointed out that on the second Sunday of September the turnout would be very low as "tens of millions of people will be at their dachas, not in town."

A Duma deputy speaker, the Communist party's Ivan Melnikov, added that "campaigns will fall on summer ­ late July and August ­ the peak of the vacation season and the anticlimax of political life."

But United Russia deputies argued that pre-election campaigning wasn't as important as long-term work by parties.

"Some are complaining that August is a dead month, that it's inconvenient for them to campaign. It makes no sense, as it should take years not months to win voters' trust," United Russia deputy Vladimir Burmatov was cited by the party's website as saying.

The liberal opposition saw the change as another Kremlin trick to try to stack elections in United Russia's favor, but said they were undeterred.

"This is another initiative meant to torpedo election campaigns, but we are determined to take part in regional elections nevertheless," Boris Nemtsov told The Moscow News. A co-leader of the Solidarnost liberal movement, Nemtsov is also on the board of the Republican Party of Russia-People's Freedom Party, registered earlier this year after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that it was unfairly denied registration four years ago.

Monitoring problems

Lilia Shibanova, the Executive Director of the Golos independent election watchdog, told The Moscow News that having regional elections only once a year could complicate monitoring. "We cover more regions now than we will when elections... take place on the same day," she said. "We'll have to choose where to deploy our monitors, leaving certain precincts unattended," she said.

Shibanova said that regional elections should be held twice a year, preferably in November and in late March or early April.

Election expert Alexander Kynev, the head of regional programs at the Moscow-based Foundation for Information Policy Development, said that the Kremlin would benefit from the new law because when the turnout is low, the share of state employees voting in elections is high, and they deliver the "right" results.

Smaller talent pool?

"Many voters will not see an election campaign at all, and will vote for candidates they know little about, let alone the challenge to collect signatures of voters or municipal legislators in gubernatorial elections," Kyney wrote in a recent report, analyzing the effects of the new legislation.

Moves that restrict the entry of new parties and politicians into local and regional government would tend to shrink the talent pool and could lead to deterioration in the quality of governance, Kynev said in his report.

Holding elections on various dates around the calendar helps to determine a more accurate picture of public opinion, and makes the political system more stable, Kynev's report said. "An unexpected event that causes a short-term reaction, such as a man-made disaster or a terrorist attack, has an unduly big impact on... an [election] campaign," he said.

On the other hand, Kynev said that the new law might backfire on the Kremlin. "When Putin's popularity peaked in 2007 and 2008, it gave United Russia an additional advantage, but now the situation is very different," Kynev said.