State Duma intends to override Federation Council's veto on law authorising marriages of 14-year-olds

The State Duma (lower house of parliament) intends to override the veto of the Federation Council (the upper house) on the law authorising marriages of 14-year-olds in special circumstances.

State Duma Speaker Gennady Seleznev said on Thursday that State Duma deputies opposed the Federation Council's veto. According to him, the Duma committee on the affairs of women, family and youth is holding consultations with deputy groups on how to override the veto imposed by the upper house of parliament.

Seleznev recalled that when the State Duma considered the document in the third reading the law was supported by presidential and governmental plenipotentiaries in the lower house Alexander Kotenkov and Andrei Loginov.

"In the Federation Council Kotenkov and Loginov made no speeches on the law on early marriages we have adopted. I don't know what has happened, but we will sort it out," the State Duma speaker said.

More than 400 deputies voted for the law in the third final reading in the State Duma. However, on Wednesday, November 13th, the Federation Council vetoed the law. Senators were not convinced by the speech of Svetlana Goryacheva, the chairman of the Duma committee on the affairs of women, family and youth.