All you need to know on Russia Referendum that could see Putin stay in power until 2036.
Russia is set to hold a referendum in July 1. It could see President Vladimir Putin to stay in
power till 2036, according to experts. The vote will be over whether to accept constitution
changes that would allow Putin to run for another two presidential terms. This is done as the
constitution presently doesn't allow this to happen. The proposed changes to the country's 1993 constitution were revealed in January and backed by Russia's parliament, the State Duma, in March.
What are the constitutional amendments set to change?
There are around 200 amendments proposed to the constitution even though Putin has
traditionally been opposed to changes. The scale of the reform is absolutely surprising. Many
of the reforms involve transforming "the political system in a way which will make Putin’s
position comfortable enough to not be opposed by any other strong institutions. This will make
Putin more powerful and largen his political carrier.
The amendments will reset the terms for Putin's presidential time but not for the future
presidents of Russsia. The most consequential change would allow Putin to run for two more
six-year terms after the end of his second presidential term in 2024. He was previously
President of Russia from 2000 to 2008 and now is serving his second state of two terms as
president after 2012 election.
The 67-years old also served as prime minister between 2008 and 2012 while his ally Dmitri
Medvedev was president. In this way Putin has been always in power by changing the rights
between president to prime-minister. The constitution was previously changed to increase
presidential term limits from four years to six years.
The other changes in the constitution is domestic, not to be a international issue, and pretty
good for Russia, which is, to respect the country's heritage and also strengthen Kremlin over
local and municipal authorities. The other change is giving illegal note to marry with one's
sex. The change defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman in the constitution, thus formally outlawing same-sex marriage. Other changes include social reform changes for wages and pensions.
Why is Putin having a referendum for changes already approved by the parliament?
Some experts also think it to be just a symbolic referendum, and since the Russian electoral
system is known for widespread falsifications, the result is preordained whatever the public
thinks, grabbed from the web. Russia's State Duma already approved the changes to the
constitution in March, but passed a law that said they needed "popular support", i.e; peoples
support. On the other hand, some claim Putin to be a 'democrat', unlike Tsar, and is respecting
peoples thinking and wish.
Some also claim that Putin is trying to increase support ratings that went down due to the
corona-virus crisis. Back in mid-March, Putin enjoyed wide support among Russians. Russia is the third most-affected country in the world with more than 500,000 COVID-19 cases and over 7,000 deaths.
According to the Levada Centre in Moscow, Putin's approval rating is currently at around 59%,
down from 69% in February before coronavirus cases rose significantly in Russia, grabbed from the web.
So, experts claim this so-called democratic process has a predetermined result, which will
enlarge Putin's leadership till 2036. The voting is designed in such a way that the corona
virus isn't transmitted. Some news on the web claim to have an option to vote from home.
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