Vladimir Putin, Russia's President, signed a law on Monday that will enable him to run for two more terms when his current tenure ends in 2024. The law could potentially allow the 68-year-old leader to remain in office until 2036.
He signed into law an alteration to Russia's constitution that will allow him to have a run for two more six-year terms. The Russian leader has already been presiding the country for over two decades. With his recent crackdown on civil society and political opponents, he has made it apparent there is little room for dissent.
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The president proposed the change in 2020 as part of constitutional reforms that Russians profusely backed in a vote in July. Lawmakers approved the new bill in March, reported France 24.
The July 1 constitutional vote involved a stipulation that reset Putin's earlier term limits. This allowed him to run for the presidency two more times. The alteration was rubber-stamped by the Kremlin-controlled legislature. Putin signed the relevant law on an official portal of legal information, reported The Sydney Morning Herald.
The bill was recently approved by the parliament's upper and lower chambers. It aligns the election laws with constitutional alterations approved by voters in 2020. One of the provisions resets the Russian president's term-limit clock to zero, enabling him to seek reelection when his current term expires in 2024. He will also be able to seek for another induction to the presidency in 2030 if he wishes.
Putin could be most probably remain in power until he reaches 83 years old. He is now serving his second consecutive term as Russia's president and his fourth in total, reported Reuters.
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The Russia president proposed the change in 2020 as part of constitutional reforms. He has been in office longer than other Kremlin leaders since Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. He stated he would decide later whether to run again in 2024 when his current six-year term concludes. Putin has Russia's de facto political leader since 2000.
Putin was elected to office in 2000, 2004, 2012 and 2018. He served as Russian prime minister from 2008 to 2012 because of term limits at the time. The law restricts Russian citizens to two terms as president in their lifetime. However, the legislation essentially acts as "reset" and is not applicable to Putin's four previous terms.
On Monday, the new law copy was posted on the Russian government's legal information website. It confirmed that the legislation -- the success of which was never in doubt -- had been finalized. Before the implementation of the new law, Putin would have been required to renounce his presidential duties after his fourth and current term in 2024. However, in March 2020, lawmaker Valentina Tereshkova, a lawmaker from the Russian president's ruling party, proposed the constitutional alteration during a State Duma discussion.
Putin's ally Dmitry Medvedev took Putin's place in 2008. Critics interpreted it as a way around Russia's restriction on two consecutive terms for presidents. During his time in office, Medvedev signed off on legislation expanding terms to six years beginning with the next president.
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