President of the Russian Federation. The constitutional and legal status of the head of state

The constitutional and legal status of the president of the Russian Federation is not very clearly defined by the current version of the basic law. On the one hand, the Constitution positions the President of Russia as the head of state. On the other hand, the regulatory provisions governing its activities do not give a definite answer to the question of which of the branches of power it represents. For some reason, it is commonly believed that the head of state at the same time heads the executive branch.

Identification problems

In our opinion, this approach is not entirely correct from a formal legal point of view. Yes, indeed, there is an example of such a combination - the owner of the White House is also the head of the American state, and heads the national government. But this is almost an isolated case, which can be regarded as an exception to the rule. In Russia, the prime minister is elected - what kind of power does he have then? Obviously, the same is executive. In addition, the President has the most extensive powers to approve the federal administrative bureaucracy. Broad legislative powers also do not mean that he is the first person of legislative authority. Direct leadership and management of the judicial system, control over the personal composition and activities of the judicial bureaucracy also do not give grounds for asserting its legal dominance in the judicial system. Obviously, we should not simply say who the president of the Russian Federation is, whose constitutional and legal status is rather difficult to determine. We are talking about the head of state as a supra- institutional body, which is "on top" of all political and state institutions. Strictly speaking, therefore, he is considered the head of the Russian state.

Election

In general, the constitutional and legal status of the president is determined by the rules prescribed in the law on presidential elections. The election methodology is a secret ballot in the general election, the date of which is determined by the Federation Council. In the event that the senators are for some reason unable to determine this task, the election date is set by the CEC. According to the established tradition, the presidential "day X" is held on the second Sunday in March, once every four years.

Requirements

So, the candidate for the post is the president of the Russian Federation. The constitutional and legal status of the head of state implies compliance with three basic requirements:

- the presence of Russian citizenship;

- age - from 35 years;

- Accommodation in Russia (not necessarily permanently) for more than 10 years.

Mandatory party membership

The practice of recent years has demonstrated that the nomination of candidates for the presidency is carried out at all-party congresses. According to the current legislation, self-nominees also have the right to register, however such steps are not welcomed.

Competence. President of the RF

The constitutional and legal status of the head of state presupposes such powers as:

- presentation - personification of people's sovereignty, he represents the interests of the country on the international arena, and acts as an arbiter in the country between various groups of elites;

- the guarantor of the fulfillment of constitutional norms and the basic principles of constitutionalism on the part of all political and state persons;

- formulation and implementation of basic principles of domestic policy, definition of foreign policy development strategy. As the President of the Russian Federation, whose constitutional and legal status sufficiently clearly indicates the priority of moderating functions and powers on state administration, he has the right to create, transform or liquidate political and state institutions, and ensure the smooth functioning of government bodies at all levels.

In modern political science, this form of government is known as the "post-Soviet presidency." The head of state is informally, as it were, on both political institutions and law. At the same time, it is from his will that the work of all elements of the state system depends. Reproduction of power closes on the individual will of one person, which, however, does not deny the autonomous administrative existence of individual cogs of a nation-wide bureaucratic mechanism.