Impossible referendum

An attempt to combine the initiators of the referendum on the issue of retirement age was unsuccessful. However, the opposition did not abandon the idea and, in particular, the Communist Party of the Communist Party intends to appeal the corresponding law on the referendum in the Constitutional Court, the media write.

The Federal Initiative Group for the referendum chose a single issue for voting and issued papers for serving in the Central Election Commission, but the quorum was not gained at its meeting on September 29, so the group was not registered, the Vedomosti newspaper said. According to the newspaper Kommersant , this allows you to initiate a new referendum on the same issue. However, one of the initiators of its holding, the representative of Fair Russia Ilya Sviridov called these actions “meaningless”.

Ilya Sviridov / Special.spravedlivo.ru

At the same time, in the leadership of the Communist Party, the newspaper said that they intend to appeal the norms of the Law “On a referendum in the Russian Federation” that impede the trial of the procedure in the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. And the expert interviewed by Vedomosti expressed the opinion that in any case, the referendum initiators have a chance for another entry before 2020.

About whether such a referendum is possible in principle and in practice, as well as why his topic is still being discussed and supported by the opposition, political scientist Grigory Golosov spoke with Polit.ru. He noted that referendums cannot be carried out on issues related to the expenses of the state budget, namely his expenses, the issue of retirement age will concern as soon as the Council of the Federation Council approved the document adopted by the deputies and sign the President of Russia.

Grigory Golosov

“Under the law, referendums cannot be carried out on issues that affect the spending of the state budget. And after the document adopted by the State Duma enters into force of the law, this will affect budget expenditures. Therefore, the authorities will have all the legal grounds in order to provide in registration to any initiative group that will advocate for such a referendum.

I'm not talking about the fact that even if there were no this circumstance, the authorities of such a referendum would never have been allowed. But in this case, there is a completely obvious legal obstacle in order to carry it out after the law is approved by the signature of the president.

Therefore, it is pointless to discuss this, such a referendum will not. After the pension reform acquires the power of the law, this is almost completely excluded. I have not seen the latest media publications about the referendum, but it is necessary to distinguish between political statements about referenda that are made almost constantly, and the consequences of these statements, which, as a rule, strive for absolute zero.

Referendums in Russia are carried out on insignificant, most often symbolic issues - or on issues that are very practical at the local level. On political issues, referendums in Russia are not held, and the fact that the issue of pension reform is a political, and key issue, this is obvious.

Kremlin. Cross / AGN "Moscow" / Photo: Zykov Kirill

There is a connection with how it is regulated by Russian law. Precisely because referendums on political issues must be excluded, the legislation is arranged in such a way that it practically excludes them.

If we talk about whether it can be active about referendums to replace yourself with the discontent that could generally pour into protests, it should be noted that in practice this discontent does not spill into protests. It exists, it manifests itself in the results of the elections, and it will last a long time, because the story of pension reform is a very long -playing story.

But to block the protesting way of the release of this dissatisfaction with the authorities is completely useless, because the only serious threat to them does not stem from street protests, but from the election results.

I think this discontent will affect not only in the immediate elections, but even in the next Duma elections. Although chronologically they are not closest, but when people get money from their pockets, they remember this for a very long time. And in this case, it will remain relevant, because for people who have taken money out of their pockets, this will be a very recent story. So the authorities will have to deal with this problem for a long time.

Pension reform rally / online

As for talking about a referendum, these are simply ordinary for Russian politics (yes, however, for politics as a whole) empty conversations. And although the Communist Party can, if it intends to appeal something to the Constitutional Court, the Constitutional Court in such an issue will stand on the sides of the current legislation. So they will not dispute anything in court.

Well, the fact that the Communist Party does it is an ordinary political campaign. From the very beginning, the Communists said that they would fight for this referendum. And this is a good topic for conversations, so let them say. There is something to talk about at rallies and partyets.

And if we talk about the chances of another visit to the referendum before 2020, then theoretically it is, it exists. And practically, in my opinion, there is absolutely no, ”Grigory Voosov explained.