More than 140 political parties in Russia have lined up for registration following new legislation that simplifies the registration process, chairman of the State Duma Committee for Constitutional Legislation Vladimir Pligin said on Thursday.
“So far 143 political parties have sent their registration applications to the Ministry of Justice,” Pligin said.
Russia currently has seven officially registered parties.
“Therefore, Russia may soon have 150 participants of the political process,” the lawmaker said.
The new law on registration of political parties in Russia came into force in the beginning of April.
The law, which was passed by wide majorities in both houses of parliament, reduces the membership requirement for registering a party to 500 people from the previous 40,000.
It also abolishes the requirement for parties to collect voter signatures in order to take part in elections.
In 1999, a total of 169 parties participated in the elections to the State Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian parliament. But only seven lived to participate in two latest elections after the Kremlin tightened rules around 2005, obliging parties to have a minimum of 40,000 members nationwide.
