MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian authorities may soon be granted the right to prolong elections for up to three days under draft legislation passed by lawmakers on Tuesday that critics say opens the door to potential voter fraud.
The legislation, which still needs approval by the upper house of parliament and signing by President Vladimir Putin before becoming law, would also let election authorities hold voting outside of normal polling stations.
The legislation’s backers say it will be easier for people to find time to vote, but critics say it will become harder for monitors and polling station officials to do their jobs ensuring there is no malpractice.
“It’s extremely dangerous given current electoral practice and in the absence of guarantees of public control over multi-day voting,” the Golos election monitor said in a statement last week.
The bill sailed through its third reading on Tuesday in the lower house of parliament, which is dominated by the ruling United Russia party that supports Putin.
Russia held a nationwide vote on sweeping reforms over the course of a week ending on July 1 and allowed voting to take place outside normal polling stations in what authorities said were precautions against the coronavirus.
The reforms, now passed, cleared the way for Putin to run for the presidency two more times instead of stepping down in 2024.
Despite their opposition to the reforms, some of the Kremlin’s critics told their supporters to ignore the vote altogether, describing it as a sham.
(Reporting by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
