Reply from a Scholar in Russia

The state of Russian politics in the aftermath of the winter protests of 2012–13 and return of Vladimir Putin to the presidency may be described in various ways, but it is far from stable. On the one hand, ideological innovations coupled with new legislation are reviving conservative and traditionalistic ideals in the public sphere. New restrictions and new levels of control were imposed upon NGOs, media, and civic activity. On the other hand, the return of gubernatorial elections and the loosening of restrictions on party formation provide better opportunities for political participation and returned some opposition leaders to the political arena, while forcing some members of the “party of power” to revive their political skills, for many years overshadowed by bureaucratic competences. The whole political system, frozen into immobility is now changing, both in the federal center as well as in the regions of this vast country.

This issue of REGION consists of six articles devoted to the evolution of the regional elections since 2007. Analysis centers on the period following the 2011–12 protests against electoral fraud and the subsequent legislation reinstating gubernatorial elections in Russia.

Joan DeBardeleben and Mikhail Zherebtsov, in their article “The Reinstated Gubernatorial Elections in Russia: A Return to Open Politics,” address the question of whether the return of direct gubernatorial elections represents new opportunities for transparency in the political process. Using the first five campaigns of 2012 as a case study, they find that these elections failed to meet the standard of “free and fair” while nevertheless demonstrating the potential of the new electoral law. Their analysis does not include the elections of September 8, 2013, which featured several competitive and important races, such as the Moscow mayoral elections where the incumbent, Sergei Sobianin, faced competition from opposition leader Aleksei Naval’nyi (and won). DeBardeleben and Zherebtsov demonstrate various forms of state influence on election outcomes, though they do not address the increase in electoral manipulation. However, given the high probability of electoral fraud, some of the figures derived from election results and used by the authors as raw data cannot be trusted. For example, in the first election after his appointed term, Evgenii Savchenko received 77.6% of the votes; in comparison, the highest percentage he received before the abolition of gubernatorial elections in 2003 was 61.2%. This may, of course, indicate a rise in his popularity. However, it may also point to changes in the electoral process and the tightening of gubernatorial control over the electoral commissions effected during the period of gubernatorial appointments.

The authors are correct when they say that “the international factor is unlikely to exert significant influence on the conduct of regional elections.” However, we should note that in the wake of mass anti-American and anti-Western campaigns launched by state-affiliated propagandists to discredit the opposition, anti-Western rhetoric appeared in the incumbents’ speeches.

The article by Elizabeth Teague, “Russia’s Return to the Direct Elections of Governors: Re-Shaping the Power Vertical?,” also addresses the reinstatement of gubernatorial elections. Unlike DeBardeleben and Zherebtsov, who see in the reinstated elections a potential for open politics, Teague sees them as re-shaping the same power vertical. In addition to an analysis of the 2012 elections, which she calls “stage-managed,” she examines the next round of elections, in 2013, which she characterizes as “open to a degree of competition.” In particular, she addresses the 2013 Moscow and Ekaterinburg mayoral races and the Yaroslavl’ regional legislature elections. However, it is worth noting that the Ekaterinburg mayor is a part of municipal, local government and constitutionally separate from the level of state authority, represented by regional governors, whereas the Moscow mayor and regional legislatures are parts of the state authority themselves. The whole issue of the municipal elections is highly interesting and much more competitive than the regional elections throughout the period addressed in this article, but that is topic that merits separate investigation.

Unfortunately, the author occasionally tries to reconstruct internal divisions within the Russian regime by incoherent sources produced by the regime itself, thus presenting Dmitrii Medvedev and Viacheslav Volodin as true opponents...