Lyubarev, A.E. Do the Russian elections correspond to their constitutional purpose?

Abstract: The author analyzes the current position of the institution of elections in Russia after the two decades of its development within the framework of the current Constitution of the Russian Federation. It is noted that the election legislation is not stable, it lacks a united vector, it moves to one extremity and then to the other, and the changes are conjuncture-based. It is shown that the elector activities are lowering, and in many regions and large cities the number of active electors in regional and municipal elections is extremely low. These facts show low level of trust of electors to the institution of elections, and the social polls show the same tendency. The main defects in the practice of elections included preclusion of access to elections for popular candidates and party lists, and falsifications in counting elector voices. Additionally, due to some provisions of current election legislation of late year a new problem of “ fabricated majority” takes place more and more often. The conclusion is made that the Russian elections mostly do not correspond to their constitutional purpose, which is to express the will of the people.

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