Federalism and Local Politics in Russia

Electoral reforms and democratization 123in the Koryak Autonomous Okrug (hereafter, AO). The number of deputieselected under the proportional system ranged from six (in the ChukotkaAutonomous Okrug) to fifty-five (in the Kabardino-Balkar Republic).The first elections to be held under the new system, the elections of 7December 2003, were the most significant, and their results were in manyways connected to the federal campaign for the elections to the State Duma.The resources of the regional elites were scattered and the system for regionalelections was new, and consequently there were electoral blocs almostnowhere (apart from the elections in the Ul'yanovsk Oblast, where theyplayed a considerable role); the results for the parties were relatively close tothe federal results. United Russia dominated in all seven regions, butperformed worst of all in the Ul'yanovsk Oblast.The largest number of lists, nine, was registered in the Ul'yanovsk Oblast,and there were only four in Mordoviya, six in the Vologda and VolgogradOblasts, Ingushetiya and Kabardino-Balkariya. And this is despite the factthat there were twenty-three lists in the elections for deputies to the StateDuma. Five parties entered parliament in Ingushetiya, four in theUl'yanovsk and Vologda Oblasts (but for the 8 per cent threshold it wouldhave been five in Vologda), three in the Volgograd Oblast and Kabardino-Balkariya (but for the 7 per cent threshold it would have been four inVolgograd), two in Mordoviya and Kalmykiya (but for the 10 per centthreshold there would have been four parties in Kalmykia). Thus, with the 5per cent threshold a two-party system could have benefited only Mordoviya,and all the other regions would have had four or five parties in their parliaments.The most active were the supporters of United Russia: they put forwardlists in all seven regions. The CPRF took part in elections in sixregions (all apart from Ingushetiya), the Party of Russia’s Rebirth (PRR)and the SPS participated in five regions, the LDPR, Yabloko and the APRin four, and the Russian Party of Life (RPL) in three. One should note inparticular the energy of the APR, RPL and PRR, which had not managedto achieve any great success at federal level. Moreover the PRR and RPL,which had formed a single list for the elections to the State Duma, were notable to form electoral blocs in one single region. Other ‘small’ parties hardlyfigured in regional elections: the Party for Peace ‘glittered’ in Kalmykiya andIngushetiya 3 as a virtual regional party for Aushev, and the ‘Greens’ putforward a list in Kalmykiya and were the founders of the Ulyanovtsy bloc.The Party for Peace and Unity, the Social Justice Party, the For Holy RussiaParty and the Party of National Revival all made one attempt each toparticipate in regional elections.The elections of 14 March 2004, when presidential elections did notrequire a major diversion of the resources of specifically regional elites, weremarked by a clear increase in political competition at proportional electionsand a further erosion of the direct participation of federal parties in theelections. On this occasion ten lists were registered in the Yaroslavl' Oblast(an eleventh list, United Russia – Za Yedinuyu Rossiyu, withdrew