Federalism and Local Politics in Russia

290 Cameron Rosshaving to submit a list of signatures, or pay a monetary deposit. In districtswith less than 5,000 inhabitants, candidates were not obliged to provideinformation about their income and property. Moreover, in an even moreradical move the region approved uncontested elections in city and ruralsettlements. Such elections took place in 15.8 per cent of the electoral districts.By holding these uncontested elections (which are provided for infederal electoral legislation) the region undoubtedly saved millions of roubles,which it would otherwise have had to spend on holding repeat elections.However, such a policy is hardly a positive recipe for developing grassrootsdemocracy. 23Turnout and ‘Votes Against All’For the 2004-5 elections a minimum turnout of 20 per cent was required tovalidate the elections, compared to the previous norm of 25 per cent (asnoted above, from January 2007 turnout thresholds have now been abolished).Overall, the average turnout in local elections held over the period2004-5 was quite healthy from a comparative perspective. As Table 13.1shows, turnout varied from a low of 38.45 per cent for city district councilelections, to a high of 56.6 per cent in the elections for deputies of ruralsettlements. One significant factor which sets Russia apart from many othercountries is the fact that turnout has been consistently higher in the ruralareas than in the cities. The explanation would appear to be that citizens inrural areas are more easily mobilized (or coerced) by local officials to participatein elections than their counterparts in the cities. Turnout levels arealso generally higher in elections for executive bodies than for local councils,and participation in elections at the local level is considerably lower than atthe regional and national levels.In those cases where we find much higher than average levels of turnoutthere are good reasons to believe that these are ‘managed elections’ –that is,elections which have been manipulated and controlled by regional and localadministrations. Thus, for example, average turnout for elections to ruralsettlements councils was, as we noted above, 56.4 per cent. However, it was97.44 per cent in Bashkortostan, 81.6 per cent in Sakha, 84.6 per cent inChukotka AO, 81.2 per cent in Orenburg, and 80.1 per cent in Aginskii-Buryatskii AO. 24 In Tatarstan there was an average turnout of 87.6 per cent,but in some districts it reached 99 per cent! (Atninskii and Apastovskii) –figures which are reminiscent of the manufactured rates of the Soviet era. 25As Sharafutdinova notes, ‘Officials exerted considerable pressure to achievesuch numbers. Directors of publicly financed institutions, such as hospitalsand schools, and industrial managers used their influence among employeesto mobilize voters.’ 26As Table 13.2 demonstrates there was considerable variation in turnoutlevels across the municipal districts of the Saratov region, ranging from anaverage of 27.55 per cent in the city of Engels to 78.74 per cent in the