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Itar-Tass
Yabloko activists scuffling with police outside the State
Duma building during a rally against a bill on referenda Wednesday. |
The State Duma on Wednesday tentatively approved a government-proposed
bill on referenda, which critics have described as backtracking on democracy.
The Duma, controlled by the pro-Kremlin United Russia party, voted
343-96 to pass the bill in the first of three required readings.
Opposition parties and human rights activists said the bill, which
tightens the criteria for holding plebiscites, would make them virtually
impossible to organize for groups without links to the government. "The
Duma's puppet majority is trying to completely shut the mouth of the Russian
people," said Sergei Mitrokhin,
a Yabloko activist who led a protest Wednesday outside the Duma.
During the demonstration, activists from Yabloko, the Communist Party
and human rights groups picketed the Duma and briefly scuffled with police.
The bill requires that initiative groups of at least 100 people
supporting any referendum be registered in at least half of the 89 regions.
Currently, only one group of 100 people is required nationwide. Initiators
of a referendum would still have to gather 2 million signatures, but they
would have 45 days instead of three months to do it.
Central Elections Commission head Alexander Veshnyakov defended the
proposed changes Wednesday, saying they were necessary to allow only
"socially important issues" to be put to a vote and prevent
the use of
"dirty election techniques."
United Russia Deputy Georgy Boos said the bill was intended to prevent
the nation from "drowning in referenda."
See also:
Human
Rights
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