MOSCOW, November 9 (RIA Novosti) - The State Duma Committee on Constitutional Law and State Development has urged Russia's lower house of parliament to abolish minimum voter turnout and absentee ballots, the State Duma speaker said Thursday.
The committee has been considering draft amendments to Russia's election laws.
"I believe that amendments concerning the abolition of minimum turnout and voting by absentee ballot are understandable," Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov said.
Committee Chairman Vladimir Pligin said the abolition of the minimum turnout requirement (20%) is unrelated to the level of democracy in Russia.
"This [turnout requirement] is not indicative of the volume or scope of democracy in a particular country. These things are not objectively connected with each other," he said.
He said the Russian Constitution grants each citizen the right to go to the polls, or to stay away.
Asked whether the abolition of the turnout requirement would not lead to a situation where only one ballot would be sufficient for an election to be deemed valid, he said there is no need to reduce the situation to absurdity.
"Citizens' interest in federal elections and the level of political activism are high enough," he said.
The turnout amendment has been sponsored by Alexander Moskalets, a member of the pro-presidential United Russia faction, and the absentee ballot amendment has been initiated by Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov.
But the Russian Communist Party said the abolition of the turnout requirement will make the country's electoral system "not viable."
"That will be the final blow from the governing authorities, rendering the term 'election system' utterly meaningless," said Ivan Melnikov, deputy chairman of the Communist Party Central Committee.
He said the proposed amendments will distort election results, making the voters themselves irrelevant.
"Under this system, the State Duma will reflect the position of 'ballot-casting individuals,' but not the will of society nor even the position of the majority," Melnikov said.
The Duma committee said the bill is designed to prevent "extremist practices" during election campaigning.
In particular, in addition to the provision barring persons convicted of felonies or extremist activities from running in elections, it also bars persons who have incurred administrative penalties for propagating Nazi slogans and regalia.
