MOSCOW, May 11 (RIA Novosti) - The Federation Council, the Russian parliament's upper house, has approved an updated bill on elections to the State Duma, lower house.
The new arrangement cancels constituency polls. Now, Duma hopefuls will run on party tickets alone. The representation threshold has risen-now, to get any seats at all, a political party is to score at least 7 per cent of votes, instead of previous 5 per cent. The bill bans election blocs and associations.
A total of 96 senators voted "yes" this afternoon-against a threshold 90, with 15 no's, eleven abstaining. That was a second attempt, after morning's vote scored a mere 86 "yes" votes. Heated debates swept both houses as the bill was getting through them.
The bill will now go to President Vladimir Putin to sign, and Alexander Veshnyakov, Central Election Commission chief, expects it to enter into force even within the month.
