| The Union of Right-Wing Forces has collected signatures
from Yabloko, the Communists and Vladimir Zhirinovsky's party in support
of a complaint to the Constitutional Court, where they have asked the court
to look into certain provisions of the law on media coverage during election
campaigns, claiming they run counter to the Constitution. ''I will be really
happy if our complaint is examined before the presidential poll,'' says
the SPS activist Boris Nadezhdin, before admitting that the chances are
slim.
By the end of this week the State Duma deputies plan to file a complaint
to the Constitutional Court of Russia. As the initiators of the inquiry
from the SPS faction announced on Monday, they are set to challenge the
constitutionality of a series of provisions of the law 'On the Main Guarantees of the Electoral Rights of Citizens'. Following the provisions
of the recently amended law, journalists are virtually banned from reporting
on anything concerning elections under the threat of penalties and being
accused of bias.
In a conversation with Gazeta.Ru on Monday, when the complaint had not
yet reached the Constitutional Court, the court officials doubted the
prospects of victory for the deputies. According to a high-placed source
in the Constitutional Court, the court most likely ''will not disturb
the water'' during the elections and the complaint, even if proceedings
are initiated in the first place, will not be examined before next year.
The head of the Central Election Commission (CEC), Alexander Veshnyakov,
agreed with the court officials. Commenting on the deputies' initiative,
Veshnaykov said: ''The Constitutional Court will not examine such issues
during the election campaign.'' (Veshnyakov, indeed, has no right whatsoever to interfere in the jurisdiction of the court, but
the certainty with which he spoke partially confirms the words of our
source in the Constitutional Court.)
Protests by some of the deputies against the draconian provisions of
the new version of the law began this summer. Then the CEC included several
amendments enhancing the responsibility for errors in media coverage of
the election campaigns. The Duma factions of SPS, the Communists, and
Yabloko, as well as several other deputies voted against the CEC draft.
They failed to muster enough support (about 160 votes) to override the
draft law, however, and to prevent the pro-presidential majority from
pushing the draft through the lower house. The number of those who signed
the SPS-initiated complaint is even less - only 96, with 90 being needed
for the inquiry to be accepted by the court. That in itself is fairly
understandable, as the other parties do not want to take part in such
clear campaigning.
Nonetheless, the rightists claim their complaint is no PR-stunt, and
that members of all the Duma factions, except Unity, have joined the complaint.
Even Vladimir Zhirinovsky has put his signature to it.
When asked why the claimants waited until the beginning of the election
campaign before filing their complaint instead of immediately after the
president signed the contested bill into law, the deputy chairman of the
SPS faction in the State Duma said: "It is just that we did not realize
then the scale of the threat. And now even the centrists from the People's
Deputy Group and the Regions of Russia have grown to understand. Besides
in summer we received an appeal from 300 regional papers that are convinced
that they would be shut down."
Nadezhdin, like many other liberal lawmakers, is convinced that the
authorities would enforce the provisions of the law selectively. "You
only have to turn on the TV set and see Vladimir Putin speaking at the
United Russia congress," says Nadezhdin.
To all intents and appearances, the deputies' efforts to cancel the
controversial law will, ultimately, prove futile. Gazeta.Ru sources in
the Constitutional Court assume that the examination of their complaint
will be deliberately procrastinated as in the case of journalist Konstantin
Katanyan who as early as April this year filed a claim to the Constitutional
Court contesting the same law. The Constitutional Court launched proceedings
into his claim in July, but a date for its examination has not even been
set yet. The source did not rule out that the case would not be heard
before spring of next year.
With the deputies filing a similar complaint, the court may decide to
examine the two cases jointly and, subsequently, to postpone the hearing
until an even later date.
Nonetheless, the rightists have not given up hope. ''I will be really
happy if our claim is examined before the presidential elections,'' says
Boris Nadezhdin. ''Since we are contesting a fundamental law: neither
the parliamentary nor the presidential campaign must be able to impede
proceedings.''
Representing the claimants in court will be Boris Nadezhdin, his colleague
from the SPS faction Alexander Kotyusov, as well as a member of the Central
Election Commission without the right to vote Vadim Prokhorov.
See also:
State Duma elections
2003
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