Putin orders charter vote on April 22
MOSCOW: Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has ordered a nationwide vote on the constitutional amendments on April 22, the Kremlin said in a statement, despite the spread of the coronavirus.
The vote will take place if “the epidemiological situation” allows, Interfax news agency said, citing Mr Putin.
On Monday, Russia’s Constitutional Court approved a package of amendments including a “reset” of Mr Putin’s previous terms, giving him the possibility to rule into 2036.
The approval came just two days after Mr Putin signed the reform bill, which has faced fierce criticism from opposition figures who say it will allow the longtime Russian leader to become “president for life”.
The court published the ruling on its website, upholding a wide-ranging package of reforms first proposed by Mr Putin in January and approved last week by Russia’s two houses of parliament.
The reforms included granting more power to parliament and strengthening the role of the State Council, an advisory body, leading to speculation that Mr Putin — first elected in 2000 — could hold on to power in a new role.
Mr Putin’s surprise move caught even many Kremlin insiders off guard, leaving some feeling deceived.
His sudden reversal — approving a plan that he’d long publicly resisted — was a blow to some senior officials’ hopes that he would find a more elegant way to retain influence once his current term ends in 2024.
The amendments were a “grand deception”, said one person close to Mr Putin, while another called them a “smokescreen” to allow him to ditch term-limits with minimal opposition from the Kremlin elite.