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Nomination of Candidates, Federal List of Candidates
This is the main and the most important stage of elections for political public associations participating in an election campaign: at this stage they acquire the rights of electoral associations.
Under the new Federal Law electoral associations, electoral blocs may nominate candidates in single-mandate electoral districts (one candidates in one district) and a list of candidates in the federal electoral district (Articles 38, 39).
A decision to nominate candidates and a federal list of candidates is taken by an electoral association at its congress (conference) by secret ballot. For an electoral bloc to nominate candidates and a federal list of candidates each electoral association comprised in the bloc must hold a congress (conference) which will nominate candidates by secret ballot and approve representatives authorized to take a nomination decision at a congress (conference) of the representatives of the electoral associations which have formed the given electoral bloc. At this congress (conference) representatives of the electoral associations form a list of candidates who will run in single-mandate electoral districts and a federal list of candidates from among the candidates nominated by congresses (conferences) of the electoral associations.
It is important to remember that congresses (conferences) of electoral associations and electoral blocs must be held within periods established by the new Federal Law. Candidates in single-mandate electoral districts may be nominated after official publication of the scheme of these districts approved by a federal law but not before official publication of the presidential decree calling the elections. Federal lists of candidates may be nominated directly after official publication of the said presidential decree (Clause 5 of Article 38, Clause 3 of Article 39.)
We would like to remind you that In accordance with the periods established by the Federal Law the Central Election Commission has submitted to the State Duma the scheme of single-mandate electoral districts for the coming elections to the State Duma.
If a federal law approving the scheme of single-mandate electoral districts is published not later than 9 September 1999, the elections will be held on the basis of the new scheme of electoral districts. If this law is not published by this date, the Central Election Commission must conduct the elections in electoral districts formed in accordance with the scheme which was used in the 1995 elections. In this case the Commission must publish the former scheme not later than 11 September 1999.
The State Duma will, hopefully, adopt the aforementioned legal act by the date established in the new Federal Law.
Each electoral association will be free to decide how candidates in single-mandate electoral districts and a federal list of candidates are to be nominated: at one congress (conference) or separately, with each electoral association taking its own decision based on its realistic possibilities.
The list of candidates nominated in single-mandate electoral districts must indicate the names and the numbers of electoral districts in which the candidates will run. The list of candidates and the federal list of candidates nominated by an electoral association must be certified by the signature of the head of the electoral association and by its seal.
When a list of candidates and a federal list of candidates are to be nominated by an electoral bloc, the decision nominating candidates from an electoral association comprised in the given bloc must be certified by the signature of the head of this association and certified by its seal, the list of candidates nominated by the electoral bloc, by the signatures of the authorized representatives of the electoral bloc and the seals of the electoral association comprised in the bloc.
Electoral associations, electoral blocs may nominate candidates from among persons who are not members of these associations and blocs. However, in any case, they must obtain the candidate’s consent to run in the given electoral district.
When an electoral association, electoral bloc forms a federal list of candidates, it may, at its discretion, divide the list into a federal and a regional part. The federal part of the list may include not more than 18 candidates, while the regional part may be divided into regional groups consisting of one of or several subjects of the Russian Federation. The number of groups on a federal list will be mainly determined by the regional structure of the political party or movement and by the availability of party cadres who can work in the supreme legislative (representative) body of the country. The total number of candidates on a federal list must not exceed 270 (Clause 10 Article 39 of the Law).
Having held congresses (conferences) to nominate lists of candidates and having prepared the documents established by Clauses 1, 2, 3 Article 40 of the new Federal Law electoral associations, electoral blocs must present the lists and the documents to the Central Election Commission. Lists of candidates for single-mandate electoral districts and federal lists of candidates must be presented in a typewritten and a machine-readable form.
Within three days, the Central Election Commission must consider the presented documents, make sure that they meet the requirements of the Federal Law and issue to an authorized representative of an electoral association, electoral bloc either certified copies of the list of candidates nominated in single-mandate electoral districts and of the federal list of candidates or a motivated decision refusing their issuance.
Upon receipt of certified copies of the lists of candidates an electoral association, electoral bloc may start collecting signatures in support of the candidates and the federal list of candidates.
The refusal to accept the documents or to issue certified copies of lists of candidates may be appealed by electoral associations, electoral blocs in the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, which must consider the appeal within three days and take a decision of the substance of the matter.
Having received a copy of the list of candidates nominated in single-mandate electoral districts an electoral association, electoral bloc must submit this copy to the appropriate district commission along with a copy of the minutes of the congress (conference) and the statement of the candidate expressing his/her consent to run in the given electoral district.
It must be pointed out that under the new Federal Law the electoral association, electoral bloc which nominated candidates in single-mandate electoral districts or included candidates on a federal list of candidates share responsibility with the candidates for submission of full information in accordance with the new requirements of the Federal Law.
If a candidate has a conviction that has not expired and has not been canceled or if he/she has foreign citizenship, the candidate’s statement of consent to run must indicate, respectively, the number and the name of the article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on the basis of which he/she was convicted and foreign citizenship (Clause 4 of Article 40).
In addition to this, for registration of candidates, a federal lists of candidates your authorized representatives must furnish the district election commission or the Central Election Commission with the information about the amount and sources of incomes of each candidate and the property owned by them (Clauses 1, 2, 3 of Article 45). Subsequently this information must be published in the mass media.
It is not by coincidence that these requirements have been incorporated in the new Federal Law: their aim is to put up a legal barrier to penetration of criminal elements into bodies of power and prevent democratic state institutions from being discredited.
As you know, the problem of honest and clean elections figures prominently in the annual address of the President of the Russian Federation to the Federal Assembly. Of course, in view of heightened attention paid by state institutions to this problem the heads of political public associations will have to exercise greater care in the selection of candidates for election to the Russian parliament. If, in the course of an election campaign, election commissions discover persons with a criminal past or present among candidates nominated by electoral associations and if the relevant information is published in the mass media, this may damage the prestige of the political association in the eyes of the voters. Concealment of such information is a sufficient reason for an election commission to refuse registration of a candidate or to remove a candidate from a federal list.
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