A majority of 78.03 percent of Russians backed a constitutional reform after 99.01 percent of election protocols were processed, according to the first results, Wednesday reported the Central Election Commission (CEC).
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On 15 January 2020, President Vladimir Putin proposed the referendum on constitutional reform to the National Assembly.
The 206 amendments include changes to a total of 14 articles. Some changes aim to guarantee that the minimum wage cannot be lower than the subsistence minimum 12,130 rubles ($195.5); the protection of Russia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, prohibiting any attempts or calls to alienate part of its territory.
Other reforms propose regular indexation of pensions as well as the removal of the "in a row" clause from the article regulating the maximum number of presidential terms, discounting previous presidential terms before the amendment enters into force, which means that the current president could be able to run for another term
The voting took place from June 25 to July 1 as almost 65 percent of Russian citizens went to the 800 polling stations in 25 jurisdictions, as the head of the CEC Ella Pamfilova said during a press conference.
Russia´s constitution backs to 1993 and it relly heavily on a presidential-centered mandate, introduced by former President Boris Yeltsin.
On the opposite, the amendments approved today redistribute the political power as both Russia's lower and upper houses of parliament will have the opportunity to propose and approve governments officials such as Prime Minister's candidacy; Deputy Prime Ministers and Federal Ministers while the president will not be able to refuse their appointment although occasionally could remove them from office.