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No grounds for raising issue on moving Duma election to September 2016 — official

Several media reported earlier, citing sources in the lower house of parliament, that Duma election may be moved to the single voting day which usually takes place on the first Sunday of September

Russian State Duma Valery Sharifulin/TASS

Russian State Duma

© Valery Sharifulin/TASS

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MOSCOW, May 20. /TASS/. There are no grounds yet to raise the issue of moving election to the State Duma to September 2016, Presidential Envoy to the Duma Garry Minkh told TASS on Wednesday.

"There are rumors about it, but there are no grounds for raising the issue in the practical sense, at least not yet," Minkh said.

Several media reported earlier, citing sources in the lower house of parliament, that Duma election may be moved to the single voting day which usually takes place on the first Sunday of September. According to existing legislation, next parliamentary election is due on 4 December 2016.

Head of the Duma committee for constitutional legislation Vladimir Pligin said the commitee has no offers at the moment as to the issue of moving election to the lower house from December to September 2016.

Pligin also said that the term of office in the State Duma was governed by the Constitution. "The status of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation is governed by Chapter 5 of the Russian Constitution," he said.

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State Duma Elections

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