One of the political institutions, in the characterization of which there is a set of norms and rules that determine the ratio of executive and legislative powers, where legitimacy is seized or achieved, is the electoral system of the Russian Federation, which forms a certain type of power, organizes it and ensures the participation of the whole society in the creation, formation and the development of state power. If the elections were held successfully and the results are recognized by the majority, this suggests that this society is able to solve all existing problems by political peaceful means.
Components
In its structure, the electoral system of the Russian Federation has two main sections. This is, first of all, suffrage - legal norms on the election procedure, where there is passive (the right to be elected) and active (political, concerning the right of citizens to elect). There are also many acts and electoral laws that govern the election process itself. Secondly, the main component of the electoral system is the electoral process - a whole range of diverse actions for organizing elections and for their implementation.
This practical organizational moment is based on suffrage and has several stages that are important in its sequence: setting a date, forming districts and polling stations, forming election commissions and, most importantly, nominating candidates, registering them, then voting and summing up the results. The electoral system of the Russian Federation works just in this way. All modern states with a democratic system apply in practice nationwide elections - parliamentary and presidential, then regional elections and, finally, local self-government.
Types
The electoral system of the Russian Federation also applies other types of elections in practice, it depends on the level of power that is currently being formed. There are three types: majoritarian electoral system, mixed and proportional.
1. The majority is based on the principle of majority, that is, the candidate wins, who managed to get more votes than others. The right to vote and the electoral system of the Russian Federation recognize the majority as absolute (fifty percent plus one vote) and relative (simply more than that of rivals). In the event that no one scored an absolute majority, the choice will be made in the second round of voting, where the two candidates who won the most votes will compete. It is through this system that the president is elected. In 2012, the heads of Russian regions again began to take power through direct popular elections, but already in 2013, the president proposed amendments that were adopted, and now the parliament votes for governors.
2. The electoral law and the electoral system of the Russian Federation used the principle of proportionality in the distribution of parliamentary seats according to the number of votes received in elections on party lists, and each party had a certain number of parliamentary seats, which is calculated from the number of seats received by the party in each constituency . So in Russia the State Duma and regional parliaments were formed until 2011. In 2007, the election barrier was raised, the rubric “against all” and the lower threshold for turnout were removed, parties could no longer form blocks. Now, after 2011, everything became different, about the third, current system, separately.
Mixed Electoral System of the Russian Federation 2016
The 2011 State Duma elections were the last when only four parties went to the federal parliament, whose representatives were in the lower house of the fifth convocation. These are the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, United Russia, the Liberal Democratic Party and Just Russia. None of the other parties was able to cross the barrier of 5-7% of the vote. The development of the electoral system of the Russian Federation involves the future use of the proportional-majority principle of elections, as has already happened in 2016. This is a fairly flexible combination of types of electoral systems, convenient for elections to a specific authority.
One half of the deputies was elected in single - mandate constituencies (majority system of the relative majority), the second half - according to the proportional system with a five percent barrier and a single constituency. Current legislation requires parties to parliament to nominate candidates for president of Russia without collecting signatures, and there are fourteen of them. Parties that received more than three percent of the vote would receive a number of privileges and benefits, with direct access to the next elections to the State Duma. But not one gained three percent, and at the helm were still the same four parties listed above.
The system of election commissions in the Russian Federation
Collegial independent bodies, which are formed in accordance with the election legislation, organize and ensure the holding of elections at all levels and referenda, these are election commissions. They do not depend on either the state or local authorities, they act independently (in practice, officials practically constantly interfere in their activities).
The system of election commissions in the Russian Federation is quite complex and heterogeneous. The Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation - the Central Election Commission - has been given the head of this entire system, it operates on an ongoing basis and organizes elections at the federal level. The legal regulation of the electoral system of the Russian Federation is completely in its hands. The ICS of the Russian Federation - election commissions in the constituent entities of the country - also operate continuously and, in addition to participating in the organization of elections at the federal level, fully implement elections in the regions (legislative deputies). Election commissions exist territorial, in municipalities, as well as district and precinct.
Principles
When the electoral system of the Russian Federation itself is examined in detail, the concept, its types, it is necessary to dwell on the basic principles of its actions. First of all, it fixes the fundamental principles, where the basis of the whole mechanism of legal regulation of citizens' rights, enshrined in the Constitution, is found: to be elected and elected to state authorities and local self-government. The principles of the electoral system should serve as a criterion of legality, lawful actions of candidates, voters, commissions and associations - all participating in the elections.
Since different types of election systems of the Russian Federation are used, it is necessary to comprehensively protect the rights of citizens. The principles of electoral rights are legally enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the charters of the constituent entities of the Federation, federal laws, and international law. Two groups of principles for regulating electoral relations are usually considered here: the principles for the participation of Russian citizens in elections and the principles that relate directly to the organization and conduct of elections.
Principle Groups
The principles of the participation of Russian citizens in elections have a direct connection with the conditions for the implementation and content of the subjective rights of voters. The right to vote should be direct, equal and universal, participation in elections should be voluntary, and voting should be secret. The Constitution of the Russian Federation does not directly stipulate the existence of each of these principles, but all this is stipulated in article 81, which relates to the election of the country's president. Therefore, article 3 is of particular importance in the Federal Law on Guarantees of Voter Rights, which provides for the voluntary and free participation of all Russian citizens in elections, and the basis is secret ballot and universal direct and equal rights.
The principles of the electoral system of the Russian Federation give priority to universal suffrage, where it is assumed that any citizen over the age of eighteen years has the right to be elected to state authorities and local self-government. And he can also elect by participating in all electoral actions provided for by laws and carried out by law. The exercise of this right does not depend on race, gender, language, nationality, origin, official or property status, attitude to religion, place of residence, membership in public associations, beliefs, or any other circumstances. This is precisely what the Russian electoral system calls universality.
Referendum of the Russian Federation
A referendum is a popular vote on bills and other issues of great importance to the state. This is just like elections, the highest and most direct expression of popular power - such is the concept. The electoral system of the Russian Federation does not only concern elections to state power, it is it that organizes and holds referenda that are held completely throughout Russia, in every corner of it, by secret ballot, on the basis of direct universal expression of will with equal rights. Each referendum participant has only one vote.
A citizen can vote in referenda only personally, participation in them is completely free, and it is impossible to control the expression of will. During a referendum, a citizen cannot be forced to express his own beliefs, nor can he be forced to abandon his own opinion. The preparation and conduct of this event is carried out by election commissions, state bodies and local self-government. All their actions are carried out openly and openly.
Legal framework
The Institute for the Development of the Electoral System of the Russian Federation (IRIS) is a public, non-governmental and non-political organization that positions its activities to fill the needs of society in information about democracy. It is from there that the most odious revelations in the sphere of the electoral law of Russians come. However, it must be remembered that the universality of suffrage cannot in any way mean the absence of restrictions on the participation of citizens in elections. The legislation has a long series of qualifications established in the rule of law, where the voting rights of individual citizens are limited for one reason or another.
Of course, there is no discriminatory component in these qualifications, since they pursue goals of a different order: it is ensuring an interested and informed participation in elections without abuse of electoral rights. Age and residency qualifications are the first on this list. A person who has not yet turned thirty-five years old, and people under the age of twenty-one years, cannot be elected president. But the maximum age is not set. Residency applies only to passive suffrage. For example, a president cannot be a person who has lived in the country for less than ten years.
Do not take part in the elections
The legislation on elections also provides for other conditions restricting the suffrage of citizens regarding both the law as a whole and its passive and active components. For example, persons in a place of deprivation of liberty, to whom a court sentence has been applied, as well as by a court recognized as incompetent. Those with limited legal capacity can participate in elections. Persons who are in military service in military institutions, organizations and in military units located in the territory of a given municipality are not allowed to participate in local government elections as voters, if the military did not have a place of residence there before they were called up for military service.
Foreign citizens who have the citizenship of another country, a residence permit or any other document that confirms the right to permanent residence in a foreign state of a citizen of the Russian Federation cannot be elected. A person cannot take a public office if there is a court decision against him, depriving him of this right, convicted of serious crimes and having an outstanding or unexpunged conviction, convicted and having an unexpunged conviction for extremism, as well as many other articles. A person who has already held this position for two consecutive terms cannot be elected president.
Additional restrictions
On the basis of the Constitution, Federal Law, the charter of a constituent entity of the Federation or a municipality, additional restrictions are established that allow a person to hold an elected position only for a fixed number of consecutive terms in the same position. The status of a deputy cannot be combined with engaging in certain activities. A deputy may be elected, but within the prescribed period he is obliged to stop activities that should not be combined with his new status. Freedoms and rights of citizens are limited on the basis of federal law only to the extent necessary to protect the constitutional order, health, morality, legal rights and interests of society, to ensure the security of the state and the country's defense.
The restrictions imposed on citizens to achieve such goals are expressed in the electoral law, which is set forth in the Constitution and current legislation. This rule is generally respected. If the state will allow incapacitated citizens, for example, to form parties and participate in state policy, then this state itself may well become incapacitated, thus exposing both the morality and the safety of citizens, which are mentioned in the Constitution. The scientific literature instead of the term "restriction" more often uses the concept of "qualification", although this is the same thing, only the word "qualification" was used more often for historical events, and today it is customary to talk about the limitations of suffrage, which are not based on scientific conclusions, but based on legislation. The main thing is that citizens participate in elections on equal terms and have identical opportunities (from a legal point of view, of course).