MOSCOW, September 5 (Itar-Tass) —— The Russian Central Election Commission expects the first documents regarding party lists of candidates in the upcoming State Duma elections on September 14.
“The Central Election Commission has information on the dates of congresses of all political parties registered in Russia,” CEC Secretary Nikolai Konkin said on Monday, September 5.
Patriots of Russia and Yabloko will be the first to hold their congresses on September 10 and September 10-11 respectively.
It will take 2-3 days to submit the lists of candidates to the CEC, which means that “the first documents on the lists will most likely arrive on September 14”, Konkin said.
A party whose list of candidates has been certified should submit the documents to the CEC for the registration of the list between September 19 and October 19, and the CEC has 10 days to decide whether to register it or not.
“October 30 is the last day when Russia will know the full list of parties participating in the federal elections,” the secretary said.
According to the CEC, United Russia will hold its congress on September 23-24; the Communist Party on September 24; the Liberal Democratic Party on September 13; Just Russia on September 24; Right Cause on September 14-15; Patriots of Russia on September 10; and Yabloko on September 10-11.
The Russian Central Election Commission approved a schedule of work for the upcoming Duma elections slated for December 4.
The 160-point document describes in detail all stages of the election campaign required by law.
Konkin said earlier that the first point in the schedule, which is to be implemented by September 2 and which requires official publication of the list of political parties qualifying for election, has already been done.
The Ministry of Justice published the lists in Rossiiskaya Gazeta on August 31.
The schedule also states the deadlines for forming territorial and local election commissions, and drawing up lists of candidates.
It says that Russian citizens are entitled to ask regional offices of political parties to include them in the federal list of candidates no later than September 2.
The parties should approve their lists of candidates by September 29. The Central Election Commission will accept documents for the registration of the lists from September 19 till 18:00 Moscow time October 19.
Not later than 10 days after the acceptance of documents, the Central Election Commission will have to register or refuse to register a party.
The Central Election Commission will draw lots by November 3 to determine the order in which the parties and their emblems will appear in the ballots.
Campaigning will begin from the day when a party approves a list of candidates and will end before midnight local time December 3.
Upon registration of the lists of candidates but not later than November 3, lot drawing will be organised to distribute airtime and spaces in printed media among the parties for debates and advertising.
The Central Election Commission earlier decided to hold such lot drawing on November 1.
A ban on the publication of the results of public opinion polls will be in place from November 29 to December 4.
According to the schedule, territorial election commissions have to be formed not later than October 4, and local commissions, on November 3-10. Election districts have to be set up by October 14, or, at the latest, by October 30 (in the case of ships or polar stations).
Absentee ballots will be issued from October 19 to December 3.
Territorial election commissions have to determine the results of voting in their precincts not later than December 6, and regional commissions, by December 8.
The Central Election Commission has to officially determine the results of the election by December 19 and officially publish them by December 24. After that registration of the elected deputies will begin.
According to the schedule, the originals of protocols from the election commissions will be kept for at least five years; video and audio recordings of television and radio canvassing events have to be held for at least 12 months after the publication of the results of the elections.
President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a decree setting the date of the elections to the State Duma for December 4. The next Duma will be elected for five years, not four as now.