Electoral Legislation in Russian Regions

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Notes

¹For example, see the 2002 edition of the Law: Federal Law No. 67, 12 June 2002, ‘Ob osnovnykh garantiyakh izbiratel'nykh prav i prava na uchastie v referendume grazhdan Rossiiskoi Federatsii’, Sobranie Zakondatel'stva Rossiiskoi Federatsii, 24, 2002, article 2253.

²All laws of the regions are quoted as per the Konsultant Plus legislative database, available at: http://www.consultant.ru/online/.

³ Sobranie Zakondatel'stva Rossiiskoi Federatsii, 2009, 7, article 771.

⁴However, high ‘ceilings’ in scarcely populated but territorially vast northern and eastern parts of Russia could be explained by the higher transport costs for running election campaigns.

⁵See the official site of the President of the Russian Federation, available at: http://www.kremlin.ru/text/appears/2008/11/208749.shtml, accessed 18 February 2010.

⁶See the official site of the President of the Russian Federation, available at: http://www.kremlin.ru/text/appears/2008/11/208749.shtml; http://www.kremlin.ru/transcripts/5979, accessed 18 February 2010.

⁷The Federal Law of 12 May 2009 (Sobranie Zakondatel'stva Rossiiskoi Federatsii, 2009, 20, article 2391) stipulates that a party which captures between 5% and 6% of the vote in State Duma elections receives one seat, and two seats if it wins between 6% and 7%. Thus, such parties secure representation in the State Duma, but not proportionally to the votes they receive. (Proportionally, they should receive approximately 30 seats.) Adopting such a norm for elections to smaller regional assemblies will often differ little from bringing the electoral barrier down to 5%, since regional parties with 5%–7% of the vote will usually win one or two seats.

⁸ Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 1 December 2009, p. 11.

⁹ Vestnik Tsentral'noi Izbiratel'noi Komissii Rossiiskoi Federatsii, 2002, 11, pp. 159–92.

¹⁰In 2006 the open party list system was abandoned by Tuva Republic, Primorsk Krai, Lipetsk, Orel and Tver Oblasti; in 2007 by the Buryat and Kalmyk Republics, as well as Smolensk Oblast’; and in 2009 by Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.

¹¹ Sobranie Zakondatel'stva Rossiiskoi Federatsii, 2008, 11, article 1073.

¹² Argumenty Nedeli, 2006, 20, 33, p. 4; Politicheskii Zhurnal, 2007, pp. 13–14; Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 28 June 2007, p. 9.

¹³ Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters: Guidelines and Explanatory Report,2002, available at: http://www.venice.coe.int/docs/2002/CDL-AD%282002%29023rev-e.pdf, accessed 18 February 2010.

¹⁴Paragraph 5, article 8 of the Federal Law of 6 October 1999, No. 184, ‘On the General Principles of Organising Legislative (Representative) and Executive Bodies of State Power in the Subjects of the Russian Federation’ (Sobranie Zakondatel'stva Rossiiskoi Federatsii, 1999, 42, article 5005).

¹⁵Association of Non-profit Organizations ‘In Defence of Voters’ Rights “GOLOS”’, available at: http://www.golos.org/r84.html, accessed 18 February 2010.

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Notes on contributors

Arkady Lyubarev

Translated by Andrey R. Gladkov.