Russia’s unregistered opposition party Parnas will decide in mid-April whether it should re-apply for registration, a senior party member told the RAPSI news agency on Tuesday.
“As far as I understand, amendments to the law on political parties, discussed by the State Duma in the second reading today, will come into force in April. In mid-April we will decide on our next move,” said Konstantin Merzlikin, the secretary of the party’s federal political council.
Opposition leaders Boris Nemtsov, Mikhail Kasyanov, Vladimir Ryzhkov and Vladimir Milov agreed to set up the People’s Freedom Party (abbreviated in Russian as Parnas) in 2010. But the Justice Ministry refused to register the new party ahead of parliamentary elections last December, citing shortcomings in its charter.
The party appealed the decision in court but lost the case.
The new law on political parties will ease the party registration procedure, including cutting minimum number of members from 40,000 to 500 people. It was approved by the State Duma in the first reading on February 28 along with other presidential initiatives to reform the political system in Russia.
