During its meeting in Oslo, Norway, on 3 July 2019, the Monitoring Committee approved a draft report on the situation of local and regional democracy in the Russian Federation, following two monitoring visits in October 2018 and March 2019.
Co-rapporteurs Jakob Wienen (Netherlands, EPP/CCE) and Stewart Dickson (United Kingdom, ILDG) praised the fact that the principle of local self-government is recognised both in the Constitution and in ordinary law. Progress since the last Congress recommendation in 2010 has also been highlighted, such as the reduction of the minimum number of members required for the registration of political parties, the variety of tools for citizen participation and the respect for the cultural and educational rights of ethnolinguistic groups.
After recalling the administrative and territorial specificity of the Russian Federation, the co-rapporteurs nevertheless expressed their concern on several points, in particular the limited freedom for independent and opposition candidates to run for local and regional elections, due to the requirement to collect a large number of supporting signatures, a provision the Congress calls for to be repealed.
