Putin Does not Rule out His Running for Presidency in 2024 Elections

If the constitutional amendment to nullify the presidential term is not adopted, then the authorities will “start searching for potential successors,” Vladimir Putin said. The head of the Russian state, Vladimir Putin, did not rule out that he would run for a new presidential term in 2024. “I am not ruling out the possibility of this,” the president said on Rossiya 1 TV channel, explaining that his re-election is possible only subject to the adoption of amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation. At the same time, Putin said that he hadn’t “made any decision so far” and “we will see”. Speaking about the planned amendment of Article 81 of the Russian Constitution, allowing him to run again in the elections, Putin said that “if this does not happen, then in some two years, I know this from my own experience, instead of a normal rhythmical work at many levels of power, they will start searching for potential successors”. “They need to work, and not to look for successors,” the president believes. Zeroing presidential terms is one of the amendments to the Constitution that the State Duma approved on March 11. The innovations were also approved by the Constitutional Court of Russia. Putin said that they would be considered accepted after the all-Russian vote which was supposed to take place on April 22, but was postponed until July 1due to the coronavirus pandemic. Human rights activists criticize amendments to the Russian Constitution The current Russian Constitution does not allow Putin to remain in the post of head of state after 2024. If the amendments are approved by voting, he will be able to be re-elected two more times. The European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) criticized the amendments, pointing out, in particular, that they make the Constitutional Court more vulnerable to political pressure, since the powers of judges may be terminated on the president’s proposal. The Venice Commission also called to delete a clause on the possibility of not enforcing decisions of international courts, including the European Court of Human Rights.