Russian State Duma adopted in the third reading a law, in accordance with which the deputies are forbidden to change their party membership. With a necessary quorum of 226, 378 deputies voted for the law with only 57 legislators opposing the bill.

The newly-developed law lays down that a Duma fraction comprises all the deputies on the party lists. A State Duma Deputy, who is a member of a fraction, must adhere to the party on which lists he or she was elected. Defiance of the abovementioned norm would lead to a premature cancellation of deputy’s authority. Retaining the deputy status would be possible only if one remains a non-party fraction member.

A similar rule for party membership will be valid for the legislative bodies of local governance.

A party deputy, being a member of a certain parliamentary fraction, may not quit the latter or enter another deputy group, a deputy elected at a sole constituency may either not to belong to any party or be a member of the grounder-party fraction.