In connection with the decline in confidence in the current head of state and his re-election for the fourth term, there are numerous disputes in the political space over how many times and for how long the President of the Russian Federation is elected in accordance with the Constitution. Opponents of the current regime argue that the election of Vladimir Putin for the third and fourth terms is a direct violation of the fundamental law. The CEC of the Russian Federation considers otherwise, as it allowed Vladimir Putin to the elections of 2012 and 2018. To find the truth, one should turn not only to the text of the Constitution, but also to other normative legal acts, as well as to the history of the creation of the basic law of Russia.
History reference
The current version of the Constitution of the Russian Federation was basically adopted as a result of the All-Russian vote on December 12, 1993. However, this can hardly be considered a full referendum.
First of all, because when voting, citizens were offered only one draft of the basic law, drawn up by supporters of the then head of state - Boris Yeltsin. The largest participants were Sergey Shakhrai, Anatoly Sobchak and Sergey Alekseev. Of course, more people participated in the drafting of the text, but it can no doubt be said that they all supported the president’s policy. In their draft Constitution of the Russian Federation, the head of state has greater authority than parliament. The Russian Constitution is most often compared with the French and American. But upon closer examination, it turns out that the presidents of France and the United States have less authority.
The second reason is low turnout. 54.8% of voters participated in the referendum. Of these, 58.4% voted in favor. That is, the text adopted in 1993 was approved by only 32% of Russian voters.
For how long is the president of the Russian Federation elected by constitution?
According to paragraph 1 of Article 81 of the Basic Law, the President of the Russian Federation is elected for six years by Russian citizens by universal suffrage. The six-year term was established by the amendment of 12/30/2008. In the original text, it was four years. Putin was elected for the third time in 2012 - after the adoption of the amendments. Given the term for which the president of the Russian Federation is being elected now, V. Putin will remain in power until 2024. Clause 3 of the same article states:
One and the same person may not hold the office of the President of the Russian Federation for more than two consecutive terms.
This is where the apple of discord lies. It is because of the word "in a row" that Vladimir Putin can still exercise the powers of the president. Moreover, theoretically, he will be able to be elected again in 2030. By that time he will be 78 years old, but the Constitution does not have an upper age limit for candidates.
Why is this legal?
Opponents of the current government often refer to the definition of the Constitutional Court of November 5, 1998, given in response to a request from members of parliament. Then it was about the possibility of electing Boris Yeltsin for the third time. The fact was that for the first time Boris Yeltsin became the head of state before the adoption of the Constitution of the Russian Federation - then the Constitution of the RSFSR was in force. In this regard, the deputies were afraid that he could go on to the next term.
That is, the possibility of being elected more than two times after the break was called into question. This definition explains whether or not the Yeltsin rule from 1991 to 1996 should be counted as the first term in office. The question of how many times and for how long the president of the Russian Federation is elected was not considered then. Thus, the definition of the Constitutional Court does not comment on the meaning of the word “in a row” in Article 81.
The procedure for the election and exercise of powers is also prescribed in the Federal Law "On the Election of the President of the Russian Federation". Clause 5 of Article 3 states that a citizen who currently holds the post of head of state for a second consecutive term has no right to run for election.
That is, the possibility of electing the president more than two times with a break is also not explained here. The problem, as it turns out, is that such a possibility was not taken into account when drafting the Constitution. According to Sergei Shakhrai, it was he who wrote the word "in a row" in 81 articles. At the same time, Shahrai did not mean the possibility of being elected for a third term, and he himself does not remember what meaning he put into this dialect. The authors of the basic law simply could not assume that it would introduce ambiguity, which allows interpreting the provisions of the Constitution in two ways.
As a result, we can confidently talk about how long the president of the Russian Federation is elected, but the limit on the number of re-elections is still unclear.
Is election for the third and fourth time legal?
Based on the foregoing, there is no formal violation of the law in the nomination of V.V. Putin in 2012 and 2018. And yet this does not mean that the current head of state is legally in power. Numerous violations of the Federal Law "On Guarantees of Electoral Rights ..." were committed both during the election campaign and on election day.
However, the main problem of the Russian Constitution is not its content, but the poor knowledge of its text by Russian citizens. According to statistics, 40% of Russians have never read the basic law. And he, in turn, cannot fulfill himself. After all, the responsibility for enforcing the law lies with the authorities. And as it is written in the Constitution itself, "the only source of power in Russia is its multinational people."