Russian Constitutional Court approves early voting right

© RIA Novostu, Alexander Paniotov

15:53 08/05/2014

MOSCOW, May 8 (RAPSI) – Russia’s Constitutional Court has terminated the ban on the right to early voting for valid reasons, such as vacation, business trip or health reasons, Vladimir Churov, the head of the Central Electoral Commission, told the Rossiya 24 news channel.

The Constitutional Court adopted this ruling, which describes the ban as unconstitutional, in April.

“The Constitutional Court has emancipated Russian voters, who were previously obliged to vote at their place of official residence and could only vote by absentee ballot for a limited number of reasons,” Churov said.

Under Clause 1 of Article 65 of the Federal Law On Basic Guarantees of Electoral Rights and the Right of Citizens of the Russian Federation to Participate in a Referendum, early voting is only permitted in difficult-to-access or outlying regions, on ships at sea, at polar stations, and in other remote places.

The Constitutional Court has upheld the appeal filed by the legislative assembly of the Vladimir Region, who argued that this clause infringed on the rights of those who cannot attend polling stations for valid reasons, such as vacation, business trip, working or study hours, or health reasons. The court instructed the federal parliament to amend the election legislation accordingly.