Elections in Russia

The President is elected in a two-round system every six years, with a limit of two consecutive terms.[8] Prior to 2012, the term of office was four years. If no candidate wins by an absolute majority in the first round, a second election round is held between two candidates with the most votes.[8] The last presidential election was in 2018, and the next is expected in 2024.[9]

Presidency in the Russian Federation is subject to the articles 80-93 of the Russian Constitution, the information provided in these articles is explanatory to the system of elections in Russia, and the main points to be highlighted are the following:

• The president is elected on basis of universal, equal, and direct suffrage through secret ballots.
• The president is to be elected for a term of six years
• Any citizen of the Russian Federation with 35 or more years of age and that has had a permanent residence for at least 10 years in Russia can run for the presidency in Russia.
• The same person may not be elected President of the Russian Federation for more than two terms running.[10]

Legislative elections take place in Russia's 85 subjects of federation ranging from oblasts, republics, autonomous territories, and autonomous okrugs.[11]

The elections for the State Duma of Russia are held every five years, and the dispute is for the 450 seats of the Parliament. Half of the seats are allocated through a proportional representation party list voting, with a threshold of 7%. The other half is appointed through majority voting, where one deputy is elected for one constituency. Regional assemblies with their respective deputies are formed through this system. The legislative body of Russia (the Federation Council and the State Duma) are subject to the articles 94-109 of the constitution, and these explain important points about the elections for the parliament in Russia, these are:

• The State Duma (lower house) is elected for a term of 5 years.
• Any citizen of the Russian Federation who is at least 21 years old can be a candidate.
• The president is to call the elections for the State Duma, in accordance with the Constitution.
• The Council of the Federation includes two representatives from each subject of the Russian Federation: one from the legislative and one from the executive body of state authority.[12]

Ballot to the 2011 State Duma election with list of Political parties.

In May 2012 President Medvedev signed a new legislation exempting political parties from the need to collect signatures to run in parliamentary elections.

Elections for mayors in Russia are direct and based on universal suffrage, and are held in a small number of cities. Out of the subjects' capitals, only 9 from the 85 recognized territories' capitals have direct mayoral elections. The execution of mayoral elections are dependent upon higher administrative authorities, and, for instance, can be cancelled by governors.[15][16]

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, three successive administrations (Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin, and Dmitry Medvedev) have played a significant role in forming a Russia's party system that has been characterized by the domination of a ruling party which is financed and staffed by choice of the current presidential administration, and which in return provides support to it to serve its interests.[20]

One study from Reuter et al. referred to criticism of mayoral and local self-government election in Russia. Findings being indicated that mayor candidates opposing the present ruling party, United Russia, had their elections cancelled more easily than those that could promote support for the ruling party.[16]

Another study from Enikolopov et al. performed an investigation where observers were strategically placed at polling stations to see the effect of their presence on United Russia's vote shares. Findings reveal that with observers, United Russia experienced an 11% loss in share of votes for the poll chosen.[21]

Since 1999, when Vladimir Putin became President of Russia there has been increasing international criticism of the conduct of Russian elections.[22] European institutions who observed the December 2007 legislative elections concluded that these were not fair elections. Göran Lennmarker, president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), said that the elections "failed to meet many of the commitments and standards that we have. It was not a fair election."[23] Luc Van den Brande, who headed a delegation from the Council of Europe, referred to the "overwhelming influence of the president's office and the president on the campaign" and said there was "abuse of administrative resources" designed to influence the outcome. He also said there were "flaws in the secrecy of the vote." "Effectively, we can't say these were fair elections," he said at a news conference.[24]

In February 2008, the human rights organisation Amnesty International said that the presidential election on 2 March would not be a genuine election: "There is no real opposition ahead of the election. There is no real electoral campaign battle," Friederike Behr, Amnesty's Russia researcher, was quoted as saying. In a report on the elections, Amnesty said laws restricting non-government organizations, police breaking up demonstrations, and harassment from critics were all part of "a systematic destruction of civil liberties in Russia."[25] Another human rights organisation, Freedom House, said that the victory of Putin's party in the 2007 elections "was achieved under patently unfair and non-competitive conditions calling into doubt the result’s legitimacy."[26]

The Russian government has acted to prevent international observers monitoring Russian elections. In 2007 the OSCE was prevented from monitoring the legislative elections held in December.[27] In February 2008 the European Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights announced that it would not send observers to monitor the presidential election on 2 March, citing what it called "severe restrictions" imposed on its work by the Russian government. "We made every effort in good faith to deploy our mission, even under the conditions imposed by the Russian authorities", said Christian Strohal, the organization's director. "The Russian Federation has created limitations that are not conducive to undertaking election observation".[28] The OSCE has also withdrawn its attempts to monitor the elections.

The 2011 Russian legislative elections were considered to be rigged in favor of the ruling party by a number of journalists and opposition representatives.[29] However public opinion-polls prior to the election suggested that the ruling party could count on the support of 45–55 percent of voters, which may suggest that there were no mass falsifications, despite isolated cases of fraud.[30] Nationwide exit polls were very close to the final results.[31]

In 2015, the OSCE called on the Russian government to respect and support the work of independent election observers. This followed a number of incidents where citizen observers were beaten or harassed during regional elections.[32] There were also accusations of widespread voter nudging to increase attendance in unpopular or controversial votes by offering financial bonuses for everyone attending, such as free food, toys, etc.[33]

In the 2021 State Duma elections, the Putin appointed government headed by Mikhail Mishustin prevented OSCE observers from taking part in Russian elections. Citing COVID-19 restrictions, officials severely restricted their capacity and access.[34][35][36]