What is passive suffrage?

In the world legal practice, passive suffrage denotes the potential for a citizen of a country to stand for election and then be elected to a particular local government, legislative authority, or any other elected office. Usually, this type of law, exercised by citizens, is stipulated in the constitution of the state, thereby fixing it legislatively. But in addition to the general characteristics specified in the main law of the country, there are other legislative acts that describe the implementation of the electoral law in more detail.

First of all, passive suffrage presupposes the existence of certain restrictions for citizens elected to any power structures. Not all adults are capable of realizing this right. So, in order to run for president of the United States of America, the candidate must at least reach the age of 35 years. A similar age limit is imposed on residents of many other countries, for example, the Russian Federation, Belarus and Ukraine. This is due to the fact that Russia's electoral law presupposes that a candidate for the post of head of the country has a certain life experience and professional level, which is simply impossible to reach at a young age. It is interesting that the upper age bracket in the legislation of most countries is often absent.

But the age limit is not the only requirement put forth by the Russian legislation for citizens who expect to exercise their passive right to vote in practice. In addition, there is a very important residency requirement, which states that a candidate running for a particular position must reside in the territory of the country (region, territory, city) for a certain period. Regional by-laws often vary this term, and it is very difficult to name its average figure. But the President of the Russian Federation will be exclusively the citizen who spent the last ten years of his life in the territory of the state. This condition is stipulated in the Constitution of the Russian Federation and is mandatory for any candidate.

In addition to these unconditional restrictions, passive suffrage in certain regions and regions of the country also has a number of more narrow limitations. So, in some republics the candidate is obliged to know not only the Russian language, but also the language of the main (titular) nationality. In addition, local legislation may require criminal records, as in the Republic of Yakutia, the availability of higher education for a candidate who is running or mandatory residence in the territory of the subject of the federation in which the citizen nominates himself.

However, it should be noted that many lawyers consider the last qualification illegal, since it clearly contradicts the equality of citizens of the country stipulated in the Constitution of the Russian Federation throughout its territory, regardless of their place of residence or registration. That is, according to the main law of the state, the candidate can live in any region.

Also, according to Russian laws, those persons who have dual citizenship and those recognized incompetent by the court can not exercise their right to be elected.

Thus, on the basis of all of the above, it can be concluded that passive electoral law is the right of citizens of a given state, enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation, to be elected to any bodies of local and regional self-government, as well as to state bodies.