MOSCOW, April 2 - RAPSI. President Vladimir Putin has signed a law granting Russia's regions the right not to hold direct gubernatorial elections.  The law has been published on the government's official legal information portal.

The law states that if a region opts to cancel direct elections, then each party in the regional and the federal parliament can submit three candidates to the president, who will forward three candidates for consideration to the regional parliament. The parliament will then vest a single candidate with the gubernatorial authority.

A party's permanent governing collegial body can present candidates to the president.

When the candidatures are submitted, all candidates must close their accounts and deposits abroad and also sell their foreign securities. The parties must also then submit information on the expenses of the candidates and their family members.

Individuals who have served prison time for grave and heinous crimes, as well as those who have non-expunged extremist crime convictions, cannot be candidates.

Direct gubernatorial elections were revived in Russia in 2012, but in summer 2012-2013 certain regions raised the issue of whether or not they could return the prior system, whereby governors were elected through regional parliaments.