Deputy of the State Duma from the Yabloko faction Alexander Shishlov submitted to the Duma a draft law "On Amendments and Addenda to the Federal Law "On Basic Guarantees of Election Rights and the Right to Participate in a Referendum of the Citizens of the Russian Federation." The draft law aims to eliminate widespread violations and abuses of power during election campaigns.

The draft law is based on the real practice of election campaigns in 1998-2001.

The key aspects of the draft law are as follows:

- responsibility of the candidates occupying Grade A posts (ministers, governors, etc.) to take a vacation during an election campaign (otherwise they retain the right to decision-making, which constitutes the notorious "administrative resource" that has been used so extensively recently);

- a ban on running in election campaigns for candidates who engaged the year before the elections in charitable activities on the territory of the electoral district (to avoid attempts to “buy off” the electorate);

- establishment of the responsibility of partly or wholly state-owned mass media to demonstrate clips involving election candidates only within the framework of the time scheduled for promoting candidates (both for a fee and for free) and a ban on theš present practice of propaganda in the mass media under the pretext of “showing the activity” of candidates, especially high ranking officials;

- increase in the liability of the mass media for unlawful election propaganda: if one of the candidates was unlawfully “promoted” by the mass media or it was not formally stated that this was a promotional clip, his rivals must be granted the same volume of broadcasting time or paper space;

- introduction of a limit on the number of persons with whom the candidate may sign a contract to promote his candidacy at an election campaign (to prevent an increase in the number of cases of the concealed buy-off of the electorate);

- abolition of the practiceof pre-term voting at the elections of all levels as one of the most efficient ways of buying-off the electorate.

According to Shishlov, the adoption of the draft law would considerably reduce the influence of the “administrative” and “monetary” resources on the election results and would render elections more honest, thereby providing citizens with an opportunity to actually influence the authorities.