Bill on resetting Putin’s presidential terms introduced to Russian State Duma

Senator Andrey Klishas and State Duma lawmakers from United Russia Pavel Krasheninnikov and Olga Savastyanova have introduced a draft law to the Russian parliament on allowing President Vladimir Putin to run for the presidency in two more elections.

The bill was prepared in response to the amendments to the constitution adopted following the nationwide vote earlier this year. The existing constitution already contains these provisions.

The draft law states that a Russian citizen who has held the presidency for two terms already cannot be reelected for another term. But this requirement does not apply to the individual who held the presidency at the time when the relevant amendments to the constitution came into force — in other words, it doesn’t apply to Vladimir Putin.

Voting on amendments to the constitution, which included changes on resetting Putin’s presidential terms and thereby allowing him to potentially stay in power until 2036, took place from June 25 to July 1. According to election officials, the amendments gained nearly 78 percent support and turnout for the nationwide vote was around 65 percent.