MOSCOW, March 18. /TASS/. The nationwide vote on amendments to the Russian Constitution, set to be held on April 22, may be postponed due to threats to the public health amid the coronavirus spread, Central Election Commission (CEC) Chairperson Ella Pamfilova said at the commission’s meeting on Wednesday.

"Ensuring people’s health and safety is our priority," she pointed out. "It is not our intention to hold the nationwide vote on April 22 no matter what. If threats to the public’s health and safety arise by April 22, it will be postponed to another date," Pamfilova noted, adding that according to the bill on constitutional amendments, the vote was supposed to take place no sooner than a month after the bill was signed "but it can be held later if necessary."

The top election official pointed out that Russian President Vladimir Putin had signed a decree on Tuesday, which sets April 22 as the date for the constitutional vote.

"It was impossible for him [the president] to sign the decree without setting a date, otherwise we would have had no legal reasons to launch large-scale preparations," Pamfilova explained.

The CEC chairperson also informed that she had held a teleconference with the Russian consumer watchdog’s head Anna Popova earlier on Wednesday, which also involved a virologist. "Forewarned is forearmed. All of us are determined to take preventive measures, our agencies are working effectively," she stated.

On Tuesday, Putin held a meeting with Pamfilova and said that the constitutional vote could be postponed if the coronavirus situation made it impossible to hold it on April 22.

Constitutional amendments

On Monday, Russia’s Constitutional Court ruled that the bill on constitutional amendments proposed by the president was in line with the Constitution.

On March 11, Russia’s State Duma (the lower house of parliament) passed the third and final reading of the bill, which was approved by the Federation Council (the upper house) later on the same day. After that, all of the country’s regional legislatures also approved the document.

The bill sets a limit of two presidential terms. However, the incumbent head of state can run for president regardless of the time spent in office before the amendment came into force. The document also expands the authority of Russia’s parliament and Constitutional Court, bars officials from holding foreign passports and residence permits and ensures the supremacy of the Constitution within Russia’s legal system.

The constitutional amendments will come into force if approved in a nationwide vote.

Coronavirus pandemic

In late December 2019, Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus — named COVID-19 by the WHO — have been reported in more than 160 countries, including Russia.

On March 11, the WHO declared the outbreak a global pandemic. As of now, over 190,000 people have been infected around the world and more than 8,000 have died. Russia has by now identified 114 cases.