Duma turns down constitutional amendments on direct elections to Federation Council

MOSCOW, June 8 (RIA Novosti) - The State Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian parliament, turned down today independent deputy Viktor Pokhmelkin's proposal to introduce constitutional amendments providing for direct elections to the Federation Council (the upper chamber). With one abstention and 283 votes against the document, only 98 deputies voiced their support, being a great distance away from the required figure of 226.

Pokhmelkin's proposal boils down to electing two senators from each Russian jurisdiction on the basis of direct and secret ballot and to conducting these elections to the upper chamber concurrently with Duma polls.

Commenting on the proposal, the head of the Duma committee on constitutional law and state development, Vladimir Pligin reported the committee's refusal to support this change to the country's Fundamental Law. "The Constitution should be stable and the Constitution in effect has not exhausted its functions as the country's most important political and legal act," said Pligin. He noted that this concerned not only amendments presented but also all constitutional amendments being discussed.

The author of the legislative initiative, Viktor Pokhmelkin, explained the necessity of changing the routine of forming the Federation Council by the fact that transition to the proportional system of elections to the State Duma upset the balance between the two parliamentary chambers. In the opinion of the M.P, direct election of senators could improve the representation of Russian jurisdictions.

In accordance with part 2, Article 95 of the Russian Constitution, every jurisdiction is represented in the Federation Council by one envoy from the legislature and one from the executive.

The Russian Constitution of December 12, 1993 provides for direct elections to the Federation Council on the basis of the majority system in two-mandate constituencies (one constituency on the territory of each Federation jurisdiction).

From the end of 1995 to August 8, 2000, the Federation Council was formed according to a different scheme: the chamber consisted of 178 representatives of the Federation jurisdictions (the heads of legislature and government). All the members of the Federation Council combined their duties in the federal assembly with their work in corresponding jurisdictions of the Russian Federation.

One of the basic reasons for introducing change to the Federation Council lay-out was the need to provide permanent work for Federation Council members.

Federation Council sessions are staged as necessity arises but not less than twice a month.