Russia's Duma factions agree to move next parliamentary elections to September 2016

 All the four factions in the Russian lower parliament house, the State Duma, agree that the date of the next parliamentary elections should be moved from December to the third Sunday of September 2016, Igor Lebedev, a Vice Speaker of the Duma with the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) told TASS on Tuesday.

"We have reached a compromise that the elections will be appointed for the third Sunday of September… A relevant bill will be submitted to the State Duma within days," he said, adding that this date was acceptable for all the factions, including the Communists "who have been resisting till the last minute."

"The third Sunday of September is rather a favorable date," Lebedev said. "Within a month after the elections, the State Duma will be able to begin full-scale work. It will be October 17-18. The first reading of a draft budget falls exactly on these dates. The lawmakers will have time to solve all organizations issues by that time."

He said his faction would vote for this decision.
Earlier, Lebedev said a bill on the new date of parliamentary elections implied amendments to the laws on elections to the State Duma and basic guarantees of electoral rights in Russia. No amendments to the constitution were supposed to be done, he said. "We just suggest the date should be moved from December to September, since no law says the elections are to be held only in December," Lebedev said.

Under the current laws, next elections to the State Duma are to take place on December 4, 2016. However many politicians have been suggesting parliamentary elections should be held on the single voting day on the second Sunday in September. Duma Speaker Sergey Naryshkin earlier said he supported this initiative as "reasonable," since the Duma adopted the country’s budget in the autumn.