1. Elections of bodies or deputies referred to in Section 1, Article 8 of this Federal Law shall be called by a body or official authorized to do so.

2. The voting date at the elections to federal governmental authorities shall be determined in accordance with federal law.

3. Voting dates at the elections to bodies of state power of subjects of the Russian Federation, bodies of local self-government shall be the second Sunday of March, or, in cases envisaged in this Federal Law, the second Sunday of the year, in which the terms of powers of the said bodies or deputies to the said bodies expire; except for cases envisaged in Sections 4-6 of this Article, Sections 8 and 10 of Article 811, Section 6 of Article 82 of this Federal Law.

(in the version of Federal Law of March 8, 2011, # 34-FZ).

4. In case of early termination of powers of bodies or deputies indicated in Section 3 of this Article, which entail lack of competence of the body, the early elections must be held within six month from such early termination of powers.

5. Elections to bodies of state power of subjects of the Russian Federation, which are newly formed in accordance with the federal constitutional law, federal law, constitution/charter of a subject of the Russian Federation, shall be appointed to the second Sunday of March or the second Sunday of October, and in the year of elections of deputies to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of a regular convocation, on the date of voting at the said elections or another day, in accordance with the federal constitutional law, federal law, the decree of the Russian Federation President.

51. Elections to bodies of local self-government of a newly established municipality must be held within six months from the date of its establishment.

(paragraph 51 is introduced by Federal Law of November 25, 2008, # 222-FZ).

6. Voting at an election shall be set on a Sunday only. Voting shall not be set on, or on a day preceding to, an official holiday, or on a day following an official holiday that is a day-off, or on a Sunday that has been officially declared a working day. If the second Sunday of March, for which elections should be appointed, falls on an official holiday that is a day-off, or the day preceding an official holiday that is a day off, or a day immediately following the official holiday that is a day-off, or the second Sunday of March is announced a business day in the established manner, the elections shall be appointed for the first Sunday of March. If the second Sunday of October, for which elections should be appointed, falls on an official holiday that is a day-off, or the day preceding an official holiday that is a day off, or a day immediately following the official holiday that is a day-off, or the second Sunday of October is announced a business day in the established manner, the elections shall be appointed for the first Sunday of October.

7. The resolution as to appointment of elections to the federal body of state power should be made not earlier than 110 days and not later than 90 days prior to the date of voting. The resolution as to appointment of elections to the body of state power of a subject of the Russian Federation should be made not earlier than 100 days and not later than 90 days prior to the date of voting. The resolution as to appointment of elections to the body of local self-government should be made not earlier than 90 days and not later than 80 days prior to the date of voting. The resolution as to appointment of elections should be officially published in mass media within five days from the date of its making. When early elections are appointed, the timing indicated herein as well as the timing of taking any other electoral actions may be reduced but by not more than one third.

8. If a body or an official authorized to do so fails to call elections within the period of envisaged in Section 7 hereof and also if the authorized body or official is missing, the elections shall be appointed as follows: to the federal bodies of state power – by the Central Election commission of the Russian Federation, in such manner as established in federal law; to the bodies of state power of a subject of the Russian Federation – by the election commission of a subject of the Russian Federation, at least 80 days prior to the date of voting, and to the bodies of local self-government – by the appropriate election commission, at least 70 days prior to the voting date. The decision of the election commission to hold the elections shall be published not later than seven days after the expiry date of the period established in Section 7 of this article for the publication of a decision to call the elections.

9 If the corresponding election commission fails to set, within the period of time envisaged in Section 8 of this Article, the date for the election of the bodies or deputies indicated in Section 1, Article 8 of this Federal Law or if such election commission is not available and cannot be formed in the procedure established by this Federal Law, the appropriate court of law, on the basis of applications from voters, electoral associations, , bodies of state power and local self-government or a prosecutor may determine the term, by which the duly authorized body or official, and in their absence, the appropriate election commission, should appoint the elections. In this case, the court of law shall also be entitled to vest the Central Election commission of the Russian Federation or an election commission of a subject of the Russian federation (depending on the level of the elections) the duty to create, within ten days from the date when such decision took effect, a temporary election commission comprising not more than 15 members, in compliance with the requirements to the composition of the electrical commission envisaged in Articles 22 to 24 and 29 of this Federal Law, and in the absence of the person authorized to appoint elections to the body or of the official, also to stipulate the period of time, during which the temporary election commission should appoint elections. The term of powers and the number of members of the temporary election commission, with the right of casting vote, shall be determined by the election commission that established the former.