Russian State Duma committee approves amendments barring foreign agents from elections

MOSCOW. May 3 (Interfax) - The State Duma Committee on State Building and Legislation recommended on Friday that amendments barring foreign agents from elections be approved.

The amendments will augment the Law on Basic Guarantees of Electoral Rights and the Right of Citizens of the Russian Federation to Participate in a Referendum with a clause which says that "a candidate is obliged to terminate foreign agent status by the time of their submission of the documents required for registration of a candidate or a list of candidates."

The clause will apply to elections of federal, regional, federal territory, and municipal authorities.

According to the amendments, "a registered candidate cannot be listed as a foreign agent."

"In the event that a statement of consent to run in a respective electoral district identifies the candidate as a foreign agent, the candidate must present to the electoral commission" the Justice Ministry's notice of exclusion from the foreign agent register or the corresponding court order, alongside other documents required for registration, the amendments say.

According to the amendments, the office of individuals on the foreign agent register as of the day of the law's entry into force shall be terminated ahead of time unless they are excluded from the foreign agent register within 180 days of the law's entry into force.

The amendments are approved for the second reading of the government bill, which makes it possible to deny the registration of candidates in cases of errors or typos in documents presented by them to election commissions.