Press Release, 21.06.2020

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If there was an alternative vote, only a quarter of Russians (25%) would support the amendments of President Vladimir Putin. These are the data of a sociological survey conducted by the Levada Centre on the request of Yabloko from June 11 to 17. The survey involved 1,516 people over 18 years of age from a representative sample of the Russian population. There were fewer supporters of the presidential package than supporters of the Constitution of Free People proposed by the Public Constitutional Council and the Yabloko party (28%) and even fewer than opponents of both the projects (26%).

Work on an amendment package, called the “Constitution of Free People” and alternative to Putin’s, began in January. Then, after publication in the Novaya Gazeta paper, the Public Constitutional Council was convened, which prepared the amendments together with leading Russian constitutional lawyers. Deputies from Yabloko of the regional parliaments introduced these amendments to the State Duma through regional legislative assemblies.

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80% of Levada Centre poll participants believe that it would be right to put to vote the “Constitution of Free People”, not only Putin’s amendments.

All amendments by the Public Constitutional Council and Yabloko, which sociologists asked about, were supported by the majority of respondents. Thus,  82% of Russians welcomed the introduction of election for the members of the Federation Council; 68% were in favour of giving the State Duma the right to pass a vote of no confidence to individual ministers, 51% of giving deputies the right to nominate a prime minister; 54% of the respondents spoke in favour of shortening the term of office of the president from six to four years, and exactly 50% of the polled supported the election of court chairpersons by a vote of judges.

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41% of respondents spoke in favour of banning Russian citizens from participating in the activities of private military companies. There were less those who did not agree with such an amendment – 38%, and 20% of respondents hesitate to give any answer.

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The following amendments by the Public Constitutional Council and Yabloko enjoyed the greatest support among the Russians: on the state’s obligation to treat childhood diseases at the expense of the state budget (95%), on the right to inherit pension savings (90%), on the introduction of individual savings accounts to credit part of the income from the exports of natural resources (77%), on fixing a single retirement age for men and women at the level of 60 years in the Constitution (58%). At the same time, the Yabloko amendment also includes a reduction in the retirement age for women by two years for each child.

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In general, 74% of Russians support the package of amendments by the Public Constitutional Council and Yabloko, and only 17% spoke out against it. Unlike alternative voting, when respondents were asked to choose between Putin’s and the Public Constitutional Council’s packages, this question was asked after the respondents spoke out on each amendment of the Council separately.

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In addition, sociologists asked participants of the poll how they felt about holding a “nationwide vote” in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Almost two thirds of the respondents (60%) consider this to be wrong, while only a third (33%) do not see problems in the period of time chosen by the government.

“The results are not just a survey, this is the most reliable cut of public opinion,” says party chairman Nikolai Rybakov. “And it brought us and our draft Constitution a victory. What Yabloko offers is supported by the majority of citizens, while Putin represents only a quarter of Russians; he is in the minority. It is clear that the full support of Putin and his policies is a bubble inflated by propaganda,” Rybakov added.