Actually, I must admit I'm not 100% opposed to this idea.
BTW, Russia has had a moratorium on the death penalty since 1995. There have been recent calls (backed by 80% of the population) to reinstate it, including by Solzhenitstyn, who wants Chechen extremists to be executed. Putin thus far has categorically refused.
Chris Doss The Russia Journal ----------------------
Rossiiskaya Gazeta August 1, 2002 FOR LAND, FREEDOM, AND SEATS IN PARLIAMENT The Communist Party is pushing for a national referendum Author: Tamara Shkol [from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html] CENTRAL ELECTION COMMISSION CHAIRMAN ALEXANDER VESHNYAKOV DESCRIBES THE URGE TO HOLD REFERENDUMS AS A CHRONIC ILLNESS AMONG RUSSIAN POLITICIANS. IT APPEARS TO BE IN AN ADVANCED STAGE AMONG THE COMMUNISTS, WHO ARE PLANNING ONE FOR NEXT APRIL.
The Communist Party intends to go into the next Duma elections armed with the scalps of corrupt state officials. Communist leaders are demanding harsher penalties for corruption - up to and including capital punishment - and they hope to secure popular support in a national referendum.
Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov is chairing meetings every Tuesday of the party's working group on preparing the referendum.
The Communists have chosen a very opportune time to work on this: it's hot, people are thinking of vacations - the political scene is quiet, even boring.
The idea of a referendum was first proposed in spring by Agrarian leader Nikolai Kharitonov. It originated in the heated atmosphere of the land reforms debate. It proved impossible to carry out a speedy referendum at the time, but leftist party leaders took up the idea with enthusiasm. The search for options began.
The issues which the Communists intend to present to the people in the referendum are easily expressed in the language of political slogans: land for the people; natural resources for the people; say no to the anti-social housing and utilities reforms; say yes to the death penalty for serious crimes against the people. Of course, this is not the wording used in referendum questions. Communist Party ideologues and lawyers are now trying to formulate all this in such a way that the questions will be easily understood by ordinary citizens and the answers will be self-evident.
What do the Communists hope to achieve by this? Ivan Melnikov, one of the Communist Party's ideologues, explains their position: proposing a temporary ban on selling agricultural land (from 10 to 15 years, and then we'll see about it). Also proposing to restore state ownership of all natural resources, at least for 15 years; and to link housing and utilities tariff rises with real wage increases.
For Central Election Commission chairman Alexander Veshnyakov, there is no mystery about the plans of the Communists. As the federal elections approach, some political forces are bound to try holding a referendum. Over the past seven years, no referendum initiatives have been successful. However, Veshnyakov describes the urge to hold referendums as a chronic illness among Russian politicians. It appears to be in an advanced stage among the Communists.
The Communists have already formed a referendum initiative group. They will finalize the wording of the questions by mid-August; and the schedule for the referendum push will be coordinated with supporters by September. Then the Communists will start canvassing the nation to collect the required 2 million signatures on the referendum petition. Throughout the process, the Central Election Commission will be monitoring observance of referendum rules; but a referendum can be called only by the president, once all required procedures have been completed. Referendum questions must not restrict or contravene human rights or civil liberties, nor the constitutional guarantees of their observance.
According to the schedule, the Communists - if nothing stops them - would be able to hold their referendum around April next year. And the Duma elections are set for December.
COMMENTS FROM BORIS MAKARENKO, DEPUTY HEAD OF THE POLITICAL TECHNIQUES CENTER
The most important thing for the Communists is not the referendum itself, but the campaign for it. This is because such a campaign expresses the basic demands of the Communist Party's election platform - it positions the party very distinctly on the political field. It is a populist platform; it looks radical, but not extreme or dogmatic. The questions chosen could find support not only among Communist voters, but among a substantial part of Russian citizens.
Judging by the experience of a similar referendum move launched by the Union of Right Forces in 1999, we can predict that the Central Election Commission will be very exacting in checking the authenticity of collected signatures; if the matter gets as far as the Constitutional Court, the court will check the wording of the questions very carefully. However, even if the most problematic conditions are fulfilled - if the referendum does take place, and if its questions do win majority support - I do not believe this will have immediate consequences for legislation. Still, the impact for the government would be very perceptible. (Translated by Sergei Kolosov)