No. 239: Russian Regional Elections

Author(s): Yana Gorokhovskaia, Jan Matti Dollbaum
Series Editor(s): Stephen Aris, Matthias Neumann, Robert Orttung, Jeronim Perović, Heiko Pleines, Hans-Henning Schröder, Aglaya Snetkov
Series: Russian Analytical Digest (RAD)
Volume: 239
Publisher(s): Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zürich; Research Centre for East European Studies (FSO), University of Bremen; Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES), George Washington University; Center for Eastern European Studies (CEES), University of Zurich; German Association for East European Studies (DGO)
Publication Year: 2019

This edition discusses the regional elections of 8 September 2019 in the Russian Federation. Firstly, Yana Gorokhovskaia comments that the usually predictable regional elections sparked a conflict over which actors are allowed to participate in organized politics in Russia and which are not. She posits that both the opposition’s campaign strategies and the social response they elicited suggest that future elections in the country will be more hotly contested. Secondly, Jan Matti Dollbaum analyzes Alexey Navalny’s negative-coalition strategy of “smart voting”. He writes that while its exact effects are difficult to ascertain, this strategy innovatively exploits the rules and practices of Russia’s electoral authoritarian regime.

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