| Based on Interfax reports
YABLOKO’s leader Sergei Mitrokhin expressed his disappointment
with the presidential initiative to reduce the barrier for
parties to the Russian parliament from 2016.
“It is unclear why, if the President recognizes the present
seven per cent barrier as obviously too high, why it is impossible
to introduce amendments into the law already now so that to
reduce the barrier for the forthcoming elections to the State
Duma in December 2011,” Sergei Mitrokhin told Interfax on
Thursday.
According to Mitrokhin, in summer 2009 when the President
met with leaders or non-parliamentary parties, he agreed with
their opinion that the barrier at parliamentary elections
had been unreasonably overstated.
“Nevertheless, nothing has been done for the past two years
so that to lower the barrier. At the same time we have not
heard any arguments neither from the President nor from the
leaders of the ruling party why a seven per cent barrier should
be kept for the forthcoming elections to the State Duma,”
he said. Mitrokhin also noted that the next election to the
State Duma will take place in 5.5 years.
“We are pessimistic about all these public statements by
the head of the state, realizing that he either does not want
or can not implement his often correct words into real actions,”
he stressed.
According to Mitrokhin, modernisation of political system
requires not only reduction of the barrier to the parliament
but also elimination of collection of signatures which is
presently required for registration in the election campaigns
for non-parliamentary parties.
“Equal conditions should be created for all the parties,
and the present situation when we spend huge resources on
collection of signatures and when they create obstacle for
us is discriminatory,” Mitrokhin noted.
See also:
State Duma Elections 2011
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