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Russia simplifies rules on political parties

28 March 2012 12:18 (UTC +04:00)

The new legislation abolished tough requirements for political parties, including reducing the number of members a party needs to obtain registration from 40,000 to just 500. The legislation supported by 124 senators will be submitted to the Russian president for signing and come to force after it will be published.

Experts said that the amendments will lead to the registration of hundreds of new parties in the country. The Ministry of Justice has already received about 80 applications for the registration of new parties. Newly-registered parties can join the local elections in autumn.

According to the new law, the Ministry of Justice gives three months to the parties which have documentation problems to set their documents right for the registration. The new law also abolished rules that required the parties to have local organizations in the Russiaâ€™s federal subjects for registration. It also considers closing of parties, which donâ€™t participate in the elections for seven years successively. The previous law set this term as five years.