Press Release, 30.09.2017

According to YABLOKO, voting of deputies of all levels should be open, and the results of a roll-call vote should be published with the indication of their party affiliation. Mass media should specify the party affiliation of deputies when covering their activities. This is indicated in the statement by the YABLOKO Bureau where YABLOKO gave its proposals for regulating the work of factions of political parties on the federal level.

The activity of party factions in representative bodies of local self-government is regulated by the federal law (No 131-FZ “On general principles of the organisation of local self-government in the Russian Federation”) which gives deputies elected by party lists the right to form factions. However, the order of creation and functioning of associations of deputies refers to the powers of the regions. This allows them to voluntaristically take part in the regulation of the work of factions and puts deputies in unequal conditions.

YABLOKO states that often factions are deprived of the right to legislative initiative, do not have equal access to coverage of their activities in the regional and the municipal media. Therefore, the rights of factions should be guaranteed by the federal authority.

“The inadequacy of the provisions of the federal legislation to ensure the rights of parties has become a limitation for political parties, especially oppositional parties, when planning their activities in the bodies of legislative and representative power,” Emilia Slabunova emphasizes.

According to YABLOKO, an open roll-call vote with mandatory publication of its results should become compulsory for bodies of representative power on all levels. At present a roll-call vote with publication of its results takes place only in the State Duma and several legislative assemblies in Russia, other bodies of representative power take into account only the total number of votes.

YABLOKO proposes that mass media should indicate the party affiliation of deputies when covering their activities. YABLOKO stands for equality in covering the activities of factions and deputies in the mass media on all the levels of government.

YABLOKO stresses that a federal law should provide for the right of deputies to create a faction in the legislative bodies of all levels, regardless of the fact whether they are elected on party lists or in the majority districts.

YABLOKO Bureau indicates that deputies’ factions should have the right to legislative initiative and nomination of candidates for leading positions in the representative and legislative bodies, state and municipal and other posts, if deputies take part in the formation of such bodies.