Less than three months to the scheduled Russian elections, the lower chamber of Russia’s parliament, the State Duma, has approved the final reading for a bill that would prolong elections, allowing the voting period to run for as long as three days – a new decision that would alter Russia’s electoral process moving forward.

The bill, which will place the decision as to whether or not to run elections for multiple days and for how many days in the hands of the country’s independent electoral body, will also allow for election authorities to hold voting outside the normal polling stations. In the sitting, 344 lawmakers voted in support of the bill while 51 were against it, resulting in a landslide victory in a house dominated by the ruling Putin-backed United Russia Party.

This method of voting was used for the first time in the region between June 25 and July 1, when voters headed to the polls to vote on a constitutional amendment that has paved the way for President Vladimir Putin to seek more time in the apex office after his current term expires in 2024. Following the success of that election, the chairwoman of the Central Elections Commission, Ella Pamfilova, expressed support for the multi-day voting system, revealing that it was currently being considered for the general elections and that citizen’s liked it.

Criticism of Multi-Day Voting System

The new system has not come without its detractors. Human rights organisations and election observers have raised points as to how it might affect the polls, opening the door to voter fraud and large-scale rigging in the Russian elections, will become harder for election officials to monitor the activities going on.

While the lower chambers have approved the bill, it still needs to be vetted by the upper chamber and eventually sent to President Putin for signing and conversion into law.