MOSCOW, February 26. /TASS/. A total of 14 Russian political parties will be able to participate in parliamentary elections in September 2021 without collecting signatures, Russian Central Election Commission head, Ella Pamfilova said Friday.
"A total of 14 parties will be able to run in the State Duma [parliament's lower house] elections without collecting signatures," she said at a meeting with experts and political researchers.
She recalled that up until recently, there were 16 such parties, but three left-wing parties united, due to which the total number was reduced.
On February 22, A Just Russia, Patriots of Russia and For Truth political parties united during a convention; all of them were entitled to run for parliament without collecting citizens’ signatures. The united party will now be named "A Just Russia - Patriots - For Truth," or simply "A Just Russia - For Truth." A Just Russia party plans to submit documents to the Ministry of Justice next week to amend its statute.
The so-called parliamentary benefit - exemption from collecting signatures - is provided to political parties who accumulated at least 3% of votes during previous federal parliamentary elections or were represented in at least one regional parliament.
All other parties, entitled to participation in elections, will have to collect at least 200,000 signatures. To register in a single-mandate district, support of at least 3% of the total number of voters in the district is required.