GFMC: Environmental Referendum Bid in Russia Rejected (Interfax Russian News, 29 November 2000)
Environmental Referendum Bid in Russia Rejected
Interfax Russian News, 29 November 2000
Moscow. 29 November 2000 (Interfax) Russia’s Central Election Commission rejected a bid for a national referendum on environmental protection on Wednesday, claiming that the proposal had insufficient support.
The referendum organizers proposed putting the following questions on the ballot papers: “Are you in favor of a ban on the import from other states of radioactive materials for storage, burial or processing on Russian territory?”, “Do you want Russia to have a state federal environmental protection agency that would be separate both from the agency for the use of natural resources and from the agencies for the management of natural resources?” and “Do you want Russia to have a legally independent state forestry service?”
The signatures of a minimum of 2 million people are needed for permission for a national referendum.
The environmental referendum organizers had gathered 2.5 million but the commission alleged there had been offenses in signature collection and rejected 617,000 signatures, declaring only 1.9 million valid.
