The draft law stipulates lowering the minimal percentage of votes required for a federal list of State Duma deputy candidates to participate in the distribution of deputy seats from seven to five per cent.
Currently, in accordance with Russian legislation, federal lists of candidates that receive at least five per cent of the vote from citizens participating in the election but not meeting the seven per cent threshold are given no more than two deputy seats. Moreover, deputies elected from such federal candidate lists cannot be members of factions and, accordingly, are not given the full rights accorded to faction members.
These legislative provisions will be applied for the first time if, based on election results for the sixth convocation of the State Duma, some federal candidate lists are found to have received between five and seven per cent of the vote.
For the seventh and subsequent convocations of the State Duma, it is suggested to establish new rules and to allow deputy seats to be given to federal candidate lists receiving at least five per cent of the vote.
This change would involve adjusting federal laws regulating the procedures for holding elections and determining the status of State Duma deputies, political party activities, and the procedures for covering the work of parliamentary parties by state and public television and radio stations.