Communist party deputies walked out of a hearing in the State Duma on Friday, in a rare sign of protest, against a bill on “floating mandates.”
The proposed bill would give party leaders the authority to decide who to give a deputy’s vacant mandate.
In line with existing legislation, a vacant mandate is given to a candidate from the same region while the party leadership has no right to authority to influence the process.
The new bill was introduced by all four State Duma factions and passed in the first reading in January.
However, a State Duma committee proposed to scrap the draft document after the second reading.
The bill was up for discussion by lawmakers again on July 11, but opposition factions requested a postponement of the debates until after they discussed the document with President Vladimir Putin on July 18.
Nevertheless, the bill was put on the agenda of the State Duma session on Friday at the request of the relevant committee.