Sergei Udaltsov (C), Russia's leftist anti-Kremlin group Left Front activist, gives a speech as he takes part in rally against pension reform in Moscow on July 18, 2018 ahead of a parliament vote. (AFP PHOTO)

MOSCOW, July 27 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Central Election Committee (CEC) on Friday turned down a proposal to hold a national referendum on raising the retirement age.

It approved a resolution stating that the proposal did not correspond to the Russian constitution and suggesting the authors to reformulate it and make another attempt.

The CEC meeting was broadcast live on its web site.

The Russian Communist Party deputies proposed to hold a referendum on whether to raise the age of citizens entitling them to an insurance pension.

The Russian State Duma, or the lower parliament house, past last week in the first reading a bill to raise the retirement age to 65 years for men from current 60 by 2028 and to 63 years for women from 55 by 2034.

The opposition factions including the Communist Party, which form a minority at the Duma, voted against the bill.

The bill has to be passed in three readings by the Duma, then approved by the upper parliament house and signed into law by President Vladimir Putin.

Also on Friday, Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin asked the deputies to discuss with regional authorities the prospects of the pension reforms and to collect proposals on amending the bill, according to a transcript on the house's web site.

Rallies of protest against raising the retirement age are taking place in various Russian cities.

Putin said last Friday that he was not happy with the government's proposal to raise the retirement age, but recognized the necessity to reform the pension system.