Russia's lower house of parliament will introduce rules in September obliging deputies to attend plenary sessions following a recent mass truancy scandal.
Lawmakers of the 450-seat State Duma were caught on video in late May running from empty seat to empty seat pressing voting buttons for absent MPs.
Deputies have about 20 seconds to vote so they have time to press their colleagues' buttons. A new drunk driving law was passed with 449 votes, even though only 88 deputies were present.
The practice continues despite being sharply criticized in April by President Dmitry Medvedev, who called it an insult to the voters and demanded that legislation be introduced to punish the absentees.
The pro-Kremlin United Russia party reacted angrily to the video and senior party member Sergei Neverov said severe measures should be introduced against deputies who "skip" parliament sessions.
"They [the rules] will enter into force for the fall session, by September the lawmakers will get the new rules," the chairman of the State Duma's regulations committee, Otari Arshba, said on Monday.
"The entry and exit of deputies to and from the building will be strictly recorded. Everyone will be like ordinary mortals," he said
Arshba said, however, that the current Duma rules, which allow absent deputies to pass their voting rights to their colleagues, cannot be fully abolished as this would be unconstitutional.
MOSCOW, June 7 (RIA Novosti)
