Elections in Russia

thumb|Perhaps the most important requirement in an election is that voters have a choice. It sounds trivial, but that is something that has been lacking in most Russian elections ... ~ Vladimir Kara-Murza On the federal level, Russia elects a president as head of state and a legislature, one of the two chambers of the Federal Assembly. The president is elected for, at most, two consecutive six-year terms (raised from four years from December 2008). However, since the early 2000s, independent observers, international monitoring organisations, and comparative democracy researchers have consistently documented the progressive erosion of competitive elections. Political opposition is suppressed through legal restrictions on candidacy, the harassment and imprisonment of opposition figures, and extensive state control over mass media. Electoral fraud has been documented in numerous elections. Political scientists classify Russia's political system as a form of competitive authoritarianism or a hybrid regime, combining formal democratic institutions with authoritarian practice. Quotes Perhaps the most important requirement in an election is that voters have a choice. It sounds trivial, but that is something that has been lacking in most Russian elections held under Vladimir Putin’s rule. Vladimir Kara-Murza, "As the Kremlin Tightens the Screws, It Invites Popular Revolt" (20 July 2017), Spotlight on Russia, World Affairs Journal We will never know if Putin could win a free and fair election again, because there will never be such an election while he remains in power. Successful revolution against Putin’s dictatorship seems unlikely. Michael McFaul, "Russia’s Road to Autocracy" (October 2021), Journal of Democracy, Vol. 32, Issue 4, pp. 11–26 Russian elections are not free and fair, and Parliament's role in recent years has mainly been to rubber-stamp the Kremlin's initiatives while providing a veneer of democratic legitimacy to Mr. Putin's rule. Ivan Nechepurenko and Anton Troianovski, "Russian Election Shows Declining Support for Putin's Party" (19 September 2021), The New York Times, New York Democracy never took hold in Russia, in the sense that power never changed hands after freely contested elections. Timothy Snyder, The Road to Unfreedom, p. 43 The Russian Federation has created limitations that are not conducive to undertaking election observation. Christian Strohal, as quoted in "European Group Cancels Mission to Observe Russian Election, Citing Restrictions" (2008), by C.J. Chivers, The New York Times External links Category:Politics of Russia Russia