Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Putin Signs Law Allowing Him to Run for 2 More Presidential Terms


Mon 05 Apr 2021 | 07:09 PM
Omnia Ahmed

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law which allow him to serve for two more terms in the Kremlin once his current term ends in 2024, a document posted on a government website noted on Monday.

The legislation will give Putin, who has already been in power for more than two decades, the possibility to stay in power until 2036.

The change was proposed by Putin last year as a part of constitutional reforms that Russians overwhelmingly supported in a vote in July. Lawmakers approved the bill last month.

The Russian President was first elected in 2000 and served two consecutive four-year terms.

In 2008, his ally Dmitry Medvedev took his place, which critics saw as a way around Russia's limit on two consecutive terms for presidents.

During his rule, Medvedev signed off on legislation extending terms to six years starting with the next president. Then, Putin returned to the Kremlin in 2012 and won re-election in 2018.

The term reset was part of constitutional reforms which included populist economic measures and sweeteners for traditionalists such as an effective ban on gay marriage.

Last summer, the Russians voted yes or no to the entire bundle of amendments, which the authorities considered aimed at limiting the spread of the coronavirus; however, critics believed that this move left the process open to manipulation.