Innovations in the electoral legislation of Russia as a reflection of attempts to consolidate power

Abstract

Since 2004, a lot of innovations have appeared in the Russian election legislation, and over the past few years, some of the previous standards have been radically changed, and subsequently returned almost intact. These changes reflected not so much the socio-economic processes taking place in the country, but rather an attempt by the authorities to form a stable political structure in the state and to strengthen the system of government authorities. Elections to the State Duma of the V and VII convocations (2007 and 2016 respectively) were conducted according to different electoral laws, but their results differ little from each other. In the article, some, most important, innovations introduced into the electoral process were subjected to analysis since 2004. Also, regularities, paradoxes, pluses and minuses of this process are allocated.