Concerning measures to improve the electoral system in the Russian Federation
Decree
of the President of the Russian Federation
To improve the electoral system in the Russian Federation and in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, I decree:
1. The Central Election Commission responsible for elections to the Federation Council and for elections to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation in 1993 shall become the Central Electoral Commission of the Russian Federation.
2. The Central Electoral Commission of the Russian Federation shall head the system of electoral commissions set up lo hold elections to the federal organs of state authority, the referendum (plebiscite) and elections to the representative organs of state authority of the krays', oblasts, cities of federal significance1, autonomous oblast and autonomous okrugs and shall, operate on а permanent basis.
3. I instruct the Central Electoral Commission of the Russian Federation, together with the Justice Ministry of the Russian Federation, to draw up and submit to the President of the Russian Federation a draft federal law concerning elections of deputies to the State Duma and a draft federal constitutional law concerning the referendum (plebiscite) in the Russian Federation.
4.Until the new legislation concerning elections is adopted, the Central Electoral Commission of the Russian Federation, when holding new elections in electoral districts in which elections were not held or in which the elections were declared invalid or to replace outgoing deputies, shall be guided by the Statute Concerning Elections of Deputies to the Federation
Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation in 1993 and the Statue Concerning Elections of Deputies to the State Duma In 1993.
In preparing and holding elections the Central Electoral Commission of the Russian Federation shall be independent of other state organs.
Decisions of the Central Electoral Commission of the Russian Federation taken within its area of competence shall be binding on all state organs, social organizations, enterprises, Institutions and officials, who are required to co-operate with the Commission, create the conditions needed for It to function, and provide it with information and materials.
5. All unspent money budgeted for the holding of elections of deputies to the Federation Council and the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation in 1993 and the plebiscite on the draft Russian Federation Constitution shall remain at the disposal of the Central Electoral Commission of the Russian Federation, shall be transferred to a bank account newly opened for the Commission, and shall be used to cover expenses related to the carrying out of the Commission's mandate.
6. The Government of the Russian Federation shall, as a separate item in the republican budget of the Russian Federation, provide money for the Central Electoral Commission of the Russian Federation to hold elections to the federal organs of state authority, the referendum and elections to the representative organs of state authority of the krays. oblasts, cities of federal significance, autonomous oblast and autonomous
7. The Administration of the President of the Russian Federation (S.A.Filatov) and the Directorate of Affairs of the President of the Russian Federation (P.P. Borodin) in agreement with the Chair of the Electoral Commission of the Russian Federation, shall house the Central Electoral Commission of the Russian Federation and its staff in a complex of buildings in the Old Square vacated by the Government of the Russian Federation, proceeding from the staff established for the Commission and its staff by the President the Russian Federation and having provided the building at 4 Nikitnikov Lane.
8. I assign to the Directorate of Affairs of the President of the Russian Federation (P.P. Borodin) responsibility for providing material support for the work of the Central' Sectoral Commission of the Russian Federation and for seeing to the everyday and medical needs of the members of the Central Electoral Commission of the Russian Federation and its staff.
9. This Decree enters into force the moment it is signed.
President of the Russian Federation
B.Yeltsin
Moscow,
the Kremlin,
December 20, 1993 No.2227
Translator's notes:
1. Krays and oblasts are the large territorial subdivisions of the Russian Federation, the former lending to be less economically developed and more sparsely populated than the latter. Krays and oblasts are further divided into rayons. The more remote rayons in a kray or oblast are sometimes grouped together to form an okrug.
2. This normally means Saint Petersburg and Moscow.
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