A Russian politician managed to vote 11 times during a parliamentary session on Tuesday, shortly before his death was officially confirmed by the Kremlin. Mikhail Tarasenko was a member of the ruling United Russia party, which is closely aligned with Vladimir Putin.
The 77-year-old has sat on various parliamentary committees, including the one on veterans’ affairs. He was reported to be suffering from a serious illness, before confirmation of his death was publicly made. His death was announced by the Duma’s speaker Vyacheslav Volodin during the very same parliamentary session in which he had supposedly cast his votes.
A summary of Tuesday’s legislative agenda was posted on the parliament’s website, detailing how each MP had voted.
According to this information, Tarasenko took part in voting between 12.29pm and 1.40pm Moscow time. In 10 cases, he voted for, and once against. He did not, however, vote on a controversial law relating to fines for “searching for extremist materials” on the internet.
This vote took place at 2.08pm, shortly after which the MP’s death was announced. Volodin said: “He was ill, seriously ill — the illness turned out to be stronger.”
This is not the first time a lawmaker has seemingly voted while incapacitated or deceased, according to the BBC.
Last year, a lawmaker who was reportedly too ill to attend a Duma session still had his vote registered.
According to parliamentary rules, proxy voting is allowed if an MP provides a valid reason and gives his or her voting card to colleagues.
Tarasenko was born in 1947 in Taganrog, Rostov region. He spent most of his career working in the mining and metallurgical industries before entering politics.
He had been a Duma deputy since 2007. He was under sanctions from the EU, the US, Canada and the UK.