The amendments of 2020, which were proposed in January 2020, are the second substantial amendments to the Constitution of Russia of 1993. To introduce these amendments, Vladimir Putin, president of Russia, held a national vote. They were approved on 1 July by a popular vote.
After Putin's signing of an executive order on 3 July to officially introduce the amendments into the Russian Constitution, they took effect on 4 July.
History
Since the ratification of the Constitution in 1993, several amendments were proposed. In 2008, in order to extend the presidential and State Duma terms, as well as require an annual report by the prime minister for the Duma members, four articles were changed. In early 2014, eight more amendments were ratified and one repealed, which resulted in the abolition of the High Court of Arbitration and the adjustment of prosecutor assignments. In mid-2014, two more articles were changed in order to allow the president to choose up to 10% (17 members) of the Federation Council.
President Putin made new proposals during his annual address to the Federal Assembly on 15 January 2020.Vladimir Putin. Address to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation . The amendments were prepared by a commission appointed by Putin, headed by academician Taliya Habrieva, Senator Andrey Klishas, and MP Pavel Krasheninnikov.
According to Articles 136 and 108, amendments to the provisions of Chapters 3–8, require the same approval as a federal constitutional law, that is, a two-thirds supermajority vote in the State Duma (the lower house), a three-fourths supermajority vote in the Federation Council (the upper house), and ratification by two-thirds of the 85 regional legislatures of the federal subjects (57 regional ratifications required for an amendment to come into effect).
The president formally submitted the bill to the State Duma on 20 January.Закон Российской Федерации о поправке к Конституции Российской Федерации "О совершенствовании регулирования отдельных вопросов организации публичной власти" . On 11 March, the State Duma, dominated by pro-government parties, swiftly approved the proposals in the third reading with no objection. By 13 March, legislative assemblies of all 85 federal subjects approved the amendments to the Constitution.https://tass.ru/politika/7968459 | Все регионы поддержали закон о внесении изменений в Конституцию. On 16 March the Constitutional Court of Russia gave their approval to the amendments.
Background
According to Point 3 of Article 81 of the Constitution of Russia, the same person cannot hold a position of the presidency of the Russian Federation more than two terms in a row. This meant that Vladimir Putin, who was elected president in 2012 and re-elected in 2018, would not have been able to participate in the 2024 presidential election. In 2018 Putin claimed he would not hold the presidency for more than two consecutive terms and denied the possibility of his participation in the 2024 election.
Amendments to the Constitution of Russia solved the so-called "2024 problem"Рубрики журнала The New Times Проблема 2024 . regarding the end of Putin's presidential term in that year.
According to a Gallup International opinion poll conducted in December 2017, if the person for whom voters wanted to vote (in 77% of cases this was Vladimir Putin) was not on the ballot in the elections, 46% would not have known who else to vote for and 19% would have invalidated their ballots. Valery Fedorov, the Director of the Russian Public Opinion Research Center,Director of Russian Public Opinion Research Center. claimed the Russian population had not thought about this problem. Focus group participants gathered by the Levada Center identified two main solutions: preservation of presidential powers by Vladimir Putin and the appointment of a successor. In 2018, Valery Zorkin proposed changing the constitution, so Putin could remain in office. However, later in March, Putin explicitly said he was not going to change the Constitution in an interview with Megyn Kelly. Sergei Markov said that Putin repeatedly ruling out the abolition of term limits led to discussions of possible scenarios for 2024 to a standstill. In the end, despite earlier promises, the restrictions that prevented Putin from remaining president of the Russian Federation were changed.
According to political analyst Kirill Rogov, the constitutional design of Russian statehood remained unclear due to the unsuccessful experience of the "tandem" and the lack of institutions of distributed power. In addition to the obvious conflict between Putin's political regime and the official state system, there were also security issues for Putin and his family if he completely leaves office, as well as issues with the constitution which guarantees that as an eventual certainty.
Proposed amendments In 2020, 41 articles were rewritten and five more were added. Excluding the 1st, 2nd and the 9th chapters, which can be changed only by calling together a Constituent Assembly and developing a new Constitution, around 60% of articles were altered. The main amendments focus on how power is distributed between the branches of government: moving away from the super-presidential system that was established in 1993 and simultaneously creating a new one based on the principle of checks and balances.
In general, the following amendments were proposed:Закон Российской Федерации о поправке к Конституции Российской Федерации . Remove the "in a row" clause from the article regulating the maximum number of presidential terms, discounting previous presidential terms before the amendment enters into force. This would nullify the number of presidential terms previously served by president Putin, and allow him to serve two further terms, hence to run for election in 2024. Former president Dmitry Medvedev would have been allowed to serve another two terms in any case, as his last ended in 2012 (as well as Yeltsin, had he been alive) but any further two terms, whether consecutive, would be definite; The Russian Constitution should take precedence over international law; The State Duma (the lower house of Parliament) should have the right to approve the Prime Minister's candidacy (currently it only gives consent to his appointment), the State Duma will also be able to approve the candidates of Deputy Prime Ministers and Federal Ministers, the President will not be able to refuse their appointment, but in some cases will be able to remove them from office; Persons who hold "important positions for ensuring the country's security" (President, Ministers, judges, heads of regions) should not have foreign citizenship or residence permit in other countries, either at the time of their work in office or, in the case of the President, at any time before; A presidential candidate must live in Russia for at least 25 years (previously 10 years) and may not have ever in their life held foreign citizenship or residency (with no possibility of renouncing foreign citizenship to become eligible to be president); The Federation Council (the upper house of Parliament) will be able to propose that the President dismiss federal judges; in some cases, the Federation Council, on the proposal of the President, will have the right to remove judges of the Constitutional and Supreme courts; Particular ministers who are the heads of law enforcement agencies must be appointed by the President in consultation with the Federation Council; The minimum wage cannot be lower than the subsistence minimum; Regular indexation of pensions; Consolidation of the status and role of the State Council (at present it is only an advisory body and is not prescribed in the Constitution); Granting the Constitutional Court the ability to check the constitutionality of laws adopted by the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation at the request of the President before they are signed by the President; Defining marriage as a relationship between one man and one woman.
Along with the redistribution of power initiatives, the first draft included a couple of social- and economically directed amendments. Specifically, Putin has suggested to require the minimum wage to be above the poverty line and to guarantee an annual increase in pension payments. The amendments from this block were developed by a special group consisting of parliament members, scientists and public representatives. As a result of their work, the Constitution was supplemented by articles imposing a distinct government attitude towards such things as public health, science, culture, voluntary work and young people. In addition, the amendments have a few innovations, such as regarding the Russian language as a "language of the state-forming people", protecting "historical truth" and mentioning faith in God in regards to heritage. Most of these amendments do not embody new concepts, but rather duplicate norms that are already found in federal laws. One of the amendments banned the ceding of Russian territory to foreign powers.
Enactment
The amendments have been put to a national vote, initially called for April 2020 but later postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They were rescheduled for 1 July 2020 (with early voting allowed from 25 June 2020).
The voting procedure was decided on already during the development process. Before that, there was no concept of a "nationwide voting". The approved procedure is noticeably different from a regular voting or a referendum: just a month of preparation instead of 90–100 days; the observers can be only from the Public Chambers, which are formed by federal and regional authorities; "informing the public" regarding the content of the amendments instead of agitation; no minimum voter turn-out; an online-voting option.
With 98% of the ballot counted, and with 78% voting in favor versus 22% against, the amendments easily passed.
Criticism The amendments were seen as allowing President Vladimir Putin to continue serving as president after 2024. Under the previous version of the constitution, Putin would have been required to step down in 2024.
The main debates around the whole arrangement were caused by the change of the amending procedure of the Constitution itself (which is stated in chapter 9). A new three-step procedure was imposed. After approval by federal and regional parliaments, only the third article describing the enforcement procedure of the change was enacted. After the Constitutional Court had validated the document, the second article was enacted, which regulated the nationwide voting procedure. The first article, which consists of all the amendments, can be enacted only when approved by the majority of voters.
The amendments also received criticism for contradicting the first two chapters of the Constitution. In particular, criticisms targeted the amendments, which involved religious issues, the superiority of the Constitution over the interstate authority, the President's right to remove judges, and the consolidation of local authority into a "single public authority system." However, after examination of the amendments in question, as well as the one discounting previous presidential terms before the amendment enters into force, the Constitutional Court found no contradictions.
Some consider the introduction and adoption of the amendments as being a form of self-coup or autocoup as it removed term limits on the Presidency and grants Putin more authority.
Foreign analysis The New York Times wrote that the proposed prohibition of same-sex marriage was "an effort to raise turnout for a constitutional referendum that could keep him in power and has stirred big enthusiasm among Russians".