MOSCOW, May 16 (RAPSI) – The State Duma passed in the second reading on Thursday a bill envisaging test remote voting via electronic communications during the elections to the Moscow parliament.

The Moscow City Duma election will be held on September 8.

Under the draft law, the test voting is to be conducted in one or several city districts. The remote voting would require changes and development of public control over the elections, Alexander Brod, a member of the Presidential Council of Human Rights, said earlier.

Previously, the Central Election Commission (CEC) proposed to ease the procedure governing the elections of municipal lawmakers. As noted by Maxim Grigoryev, a member of the Civic Chamber, the measure will enable small political parties and those outside the Parliament to take a more active stand in the political life in Russia. CEC, Grigoriev pointed out, has also plans to improve the procedures on the participation of observers in the elections.