Legislation in question: Provisions of paras 17 and 18 of Article 71 of the Federal law “On the Guarantees of Electoral Rights and the Right to Participate in Referendum” and parts 3 and 4 of Article 89 of the Federal law “On the Elections of the Deputies of the State Duma”

Legal issue: Whether persons who previously gave up the mandate of a member of the State Duma may subsequently take a vacant seat in the Duma belonging to their party faction?

Ratio decidendi: The contested rules do not conform to the Constitution. They do not exclude forming the composition of the State Duma on the basis of a discretionary decision of a political party from among the persons whose professional activities are connected to the executive power and whose candidacies were not approved by the people in the elections. Besides, it creates the situation when passive electoral right of other candidates who have not yet held the mandates of deputies, would be impaired, whereas a part of candidates from the respective list would, in violation of the principle of equality of deputies, be put in a privileged position allowing to hold deputy’s mandate more than once.