“In the far future, the term of office of the Russian President will be extended to five years,” Mr. Mironov believes. In his opinion, this will give the President better opportunities for normal work, “without the need to prepare for new elections”. It will also create a time gap between parliamentary and presidential elections in Russia. Today, there was no need to change the Constitution, Mr. Mironov stressed.

On Thursday, the State Duma of the Russian Federation rejected proposed amendments to the Constitution aimed at extending the presidential term from four years to seven years. 51 deputies supported the amendments, against the required 226 votes. The proposal was submitted by the Legislative Assembly of the Ivanovo region. In their view, the extension of the presidential term to 7 years will help stabilize the political and economic situation in the country.

The deputies of the Legislative Assembly believe that a president elected for 7 years will have better opportunities to implement the plans and programs presented to voters during his election campaign.