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Most Russians support amendments to Constitution, Kremlin says

Practically all opinion polls point in this direction, according to the Kremlin spokesman

© Press Office of the Russian Central Election Commission/TASS

MOSCOW, June 8. /TASS/. The Kremlin sees support for constitutional amendments from most Russians as follows from the latest opinion polls, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media on Monday.

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"The situation unequivocally indicates the prevailing support for the package of amendments to the Constitution. Practically all opinion polls point in this direction," Peskov said. "Russia’s biggest political forces that enjoy the greatest support of the population are for the amendments, too."

At the same time he acknowledged that "there are parties that enjoy less support from the people." "They may express different points of view," he said. In this way he commented on a statement by the Presidium of the Communist Party’s Central Committee unsupportive of the amendments to the Constitution.

"For the president [Vladimir Putin] it is extremely important to ensure the people go and vote to support the amendments to the Constitution," Peskov said, adding that the head of state said so himself more than once. "He [the president] repeatedly stated that the corresponding decree would take effect only if and after the amendments have been supported by the country’s citizens," Peskov said.

He stressed that "most of the amendments were initiated by the people, by representatives of different social strata; the amendments are supported by them."

Peskov does not think that more discussion of the amendments is needed.

"The discussion of the amendments has continued for several months very widely and in different formats. We see very high social activity in this respect," he said.

Amendments to the Constitution

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on holding national popular vote on amendments to the Constitution on July 1.

In January 2020, in his message to the Federal Assembly Putin suggested introducing a number of amendments to the fundamental law that would better meet the modern realities and consolidate the achieved results. After a special group discussed the proposed amendments the State Duma on March 11 adopted the presidential bill in the final reading. Later in the day the bill was approved by the Federation Council and supported by the legislative assemblies of all of Russia’s territories. The Federation Council considered the results on March 14 and sent its resolution to the president.

Originally Putin signed a decree to hold the national popular vote on the amendments on April 22. However, amid the novel coronavirus pandemic Putin addressed the nation on television on March 25 to say that the voting had to be postponed. The amendments will take effect only if they are approved in a plebiscite.

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