Governance of Electoral Policy in Russia: New Political Parties and Institutional Limits for Representation

Abstract

After the contentious electoral policy 2011-12 in Russia the new reform of party's legislation was conducted, that led to an increase in the number of political parties. Currently, 77 officially registered political parties are in the country. However, the regional legislative elections in 2012-2015 demonstrate the limited representation of the new party-political interests. When a relatively large electoral volatility party system is still limited pluralistic (mostly system of "4 2"), and dominant mixed electoral system in regions does not allow small parties hold their deputies in the regional parliaments. The study of regional elections of 2012-2015 shows that the main reason for the limited representation is exclusive institutional design of electoral politics. This institutional design at the elections of the State Duma deputies in 2016, appears to be the main reason for the formation of "pluralism without representation" at the federal level.