Russian communists leave parliament before talks on mandates

Communist members of the Russian parliament have left a session in protest at discussions of the bill on mandates, RIA Novosti reports.

The bill suggests that parties’ authorities decided who should take vacant mandates. According to the bill, a free mandate should be passed to a candidate from the same region as the resigned MP. Parties’ authorities cannot affect the process of passing the mandate.

The Communist Party, LDPR and A Fair Russia warned about their plans to leave the session, should the topic be raised.