Correlation between the electoral system democratization and the electoral activity

Abstract

© BEIESP. The article presents a research of electoral process in Russia and the process of its democratization. The research object is presidential election campaigns in Russia from 1991 till 2018. The research is based on the hypothesis that simplified process of nominating candidates for the position of the Russian President must result in their number growing. This, in turn, must increase attendance of voters. That is, democratization of electoral process must positively influence the implementation of both the passive and active electoral rights by the citizens. To check the hypothesis, three indicators of electoral process were measured, analyzed and compared. The number of signatures necessary for registering candidates for the position of the Russian President reflects the level of electoral process democratization. The number of nominated and registered candidates characterizes the passive electoral right. Attendance of voters at presidential elections reflects implementation of the active right to elect. The key research results were obtained based on the Russian laws and analysis of their content, summarization and comparison of statistical data on elections, and their retrospective analysis. As a result, it was found how administrative regulation of elections influences implementation of the active passive and electoral rights by the citizens. This served as the basis for giving recommendations on improving the electoral process in the Russian Federation.