Electoral blocs: application experience and prospects of returning the institute to the electoral system of Russia

This article describes the issues of creation and activity of electoral blocs. Electoral blocs can be considered as unions or associations of political parties, as well as public movements for joint participation in the electoral process, including nominating a joint list of candidates, conducting a joint campaign, as well as monitoring the voting process and appealing against the results. Now, the possibility of creating election unions is provided only at the level of elections to the municipalities and then only in relation to social movements. Political parties still cannot put forward joint lists together with other parties. In this regard, the author pays great attention to the historical analysis of the legal regulation of approaches to the creation of electoral blocs in Russia, as well as the experience of these blocks of participating in real election campaigns. Since 1993, the blocs had been active participants in the electoral process. Electoral blocks were allowed to take part in elections throughout four election cycles and three times out of four they were represented in the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. Despite the rather high prevalence, the legislation did not provide detailed rules for creating blocks. In addition to the Russian experience, the author also conducts a large comparative legal analysis of the activities of the election blocs in foreign countries. The author provides a comparative analysis of the party blocking process of the former Soviet Union countries, as well as large European countries. In most countries, there are two main systems for the joint participation of parties in elections: combining lists and blocking. In most countries where blocks are allowed, they are active participants in the political system, winning the election and delegating their representatives to parliament. Based on the analysis of Russian and foreign experience, the author argues that it is necessary to return blocking in modern Russian political life. Electoral blocks will increase the level of political competition, as well as increase the chances of small political parties to enter the Russian parliament.

About the author: Andrey Vershinin – Ph.D. student, Department of Constitutional Law, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia.

Citation: Vershinin A. (2020) Izbiratel'nye bloki: opyt primeneniya i perspektivy vozvrashcheniya instituta v izbiratel'nuyu sistemu Rossii [Electoral blocs: application experience and prospects of returning the institute to the electoral system of Russia]. Sravnitel'noe konstitutsionnoe obozrenie, vol.29, no.1, pp.81–106. (In Russian).

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