The Federation Council approved on Wednesday a bill that de-facto strips the chamber’s speaker from confirming the credentials of new senators, a procedure that was known to sometimes take several months of elaborate checks, Interfax reported.
Under the new rules, a candidate will automatically become a senator on the 10th day after his appointment by regional authorities.
The speaker, Sergei Mironov, who heads the pro-Kremlin A Just Russia party, opposed the bill, introduced by rival pro-Kremlin United Russia, which controls both houses of parliament.
Mironov said the new rules would boost graft, but added that he nevertheless had convinced his colleagues to support the legislation. He was the only senator to vote against the bill, which was previously approved by the State Duma and now goes to President Dmitry Medvedev to be signed into law.
(MT)
