Translated material
Fraternity Base
Dmitry Khitarov
Elections of deputies of the Russian-Belarusian parliament as a testing ground for the Central Election Commission
Elections of deputies of the Russian-Belarusian parliament as a testing ground for the Central Election Commission
(Photo: AP )
The moment when the Russian and Belarusian peoples can finally legally merge in fraternal embraces is inexorably approaching. The Council of Ministers of the Union State has already approved an agreement under which, from 2005, the Russian ruble will become the single currency, and from 2008, the same ruble, but this time a union one. The high-ranking parties, however, cannot agree fraternally on where the emission center will be, but the State Duma, for example, has already adopted the federal law in the first reading (338 in favor, 23 against, 3 abstained) "On the election of deputies of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Union State of the first convocation from the Russian Federation."
Russia in the united parliament will be represented by 75 deputies (Belarus - 28), elected under a majoritarian system. In this regard, it will be necessary to develop a new system for dividing districts, and some districts will account for several subjects of the Federation at once, of which, as is known, there are 89. The right to determine which electoral commission of which of the subjects will entrust the honorable responsibility of holding elections, and accordingly to whom to transfer funds for them the CEC reserves its conduct. At the same time, the number of voters in a particular subject “may” be taken into account, and, therefore, may not be taken into account.
The Duma Committee on State Building rightly notes in its conclusion that the bill contains “a number of new norms that arise from the practice of recent election campaigns and the need to eliminate a number of negative phenomena that took place during the elections.” It also notes that “many of these innovations can be considered as a prototype of future changes that should be made to the legislation of the Russian Federation on elections.”
There are more than enough "novels". Organizations that have a share of state participation in their authorized capital were previously obliged, at the first request of the election commission, to “provide the necessary premises, vehicles, communications, technical equipment, information and materials; ensure the protection of election documentation.” Now we have reached private owners: “all organizations, regardless of their form of ownership, must “provide voting premises to precinct commissions free of charge.”
Some optional candidates, and even entire blocs, still have not paid the Central Election Commission for the long-past elections, and now arrears of budget funds to the Central Election Commission or the media, which provided airtime or printed pages for campaign materials, can serve as a basis for refusing registration.
At the last elections, the election commission was faced with the problem of the emergence of political “doubles” - the law on elections of the Union Parliament directly prohibits the use in the name of a bloc of the name of a registered all-Russian public association that is not included in this bloc, regardless of whether the said association participates in the elections or not. Moreover, blocs that participated in the elections of State Duma deputies or the president, but failed to retain at least half of their members, are also prohibited from using the old name.
The collection of signatures (at least 1,500 signatures must be collected for a candidate for the House of Representatives of the Union Parliament), according to the new law, can only be carried out in specially equipped places determined by the commission and exclusively “under the supervision” of members of the election commission.
The list of sensible, stupid and downright funny “short stories” could be continued, but let us remind you that the law has so far been adopted by the State Duma only in the first reading. It is still difficult to say which of the innovations will survive the stage of introducing amendments to the draft. It is also difficult to say when a new parliament will appear. It was assumed that elections to the House of Representatives would be held this coming spring, but Leonid Kozik, Deputy Prime Minister of the Belarusian government, who also serves as President Lukashenko’s plenipotentiary envoy to the integration bodies, has already stated that these deadlines are unrealistic. In October of this year, Belarusians will have to elect their own new parliament, and its deputies, according to Kozik, will be able to begin discussing union documents only in January-February 2001. We must not forget that next year there will be presidential elections in Belarus. In short, the neighbors do not yet care about a single legislative body. But it’s okay, we’ll do it ourselves somehow. The Secretary of State of the Union State, Pavel Borodin, has already looked at a place for the new parliament in St. Petersburg, and has held preliminary negotiations with Governor Vladimir Yakovlev. Pal Palych even has “possible investors” in mind. So Belarusians can calmly solve their problems for now. Let the Swiss worry.