Elections in Russia

Political opponents have charges dug up and are jailed and repressed, independent media is intimidated and suppressed, and the elections have been claimed as fraudulent.

[12] Presidency in the Russian Federation is subject to the articles 80-93 of the Russian Constitution, the information provided in these articles is explanatory to the system of elections in Russia, and the main points to be highlighted are the following: Legislative elections take place in Russia's 89 subjects of federation ranging from oblasts, republics, autonomous territories, and autonomous okrugs.

The legislative body of Russia (the Federation Council and the State Duma) are subject to the articles 94-109 of the constitution, and these explain important points about the elections for the parliament in Russia, these are: In May 2012 President Medvedev signed a new legislation exempting political parties from the need to collect signatures to run in parliamentary elections.

[22] 1998 – Constitutional Court Judgement 26-P: 5% threshold is upheld by the Russian constitutional court 2002 – Law number 175: Mixed election of the state Duma is implemented with 50% of seats elected by a majority system for single-seat district votes (one deputy-one seat), and the other 50% through a proportional representation party list voting scheme.

2013 – Putin requires a return to the old mixed system, making elections for parliament being subject to Law number 175 once again.

[24] Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, three successive administrations (Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin, and Dmitry Medvedev) have played a significant role in forming a Russia's party system that has been characterized by the domination of a ruling party which is financed and staffed by choice of the current presidential administration, and which in return provides support to it to serve its interests.

[21] Another study from Enikolopov et al. performed an investigation where observers were strategically placed at polling stations to see the effect of their presence on United Russia's vote shares.

Findings reveal that with observers, United Russia experienced an 11% loss in share of votes for the poll chosen.

Göran Lennmarker, president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), said that the elections "failed to meet many of the commitments and standards that we have.

There is no real electoral campaign battle," Friederike Behr, Amnesty's Russia researcher, was quoted as saying[citation needed].

In a report on the elections, Amnesty said laws restricting non-government organizations, police breaking up demonstrations, and harassment from critics were all part of "a systematic destruction of civil liberties in Russia.

"[30] Another human rights organisation, Freedom House, said that the victory of Putin's party in the 2007 elections "was achieved under patently unfair and non-competitive conditions calling into doubt the result’s legitimacy.

[32] In February 2008 the European Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights announced that it would not send observers to monitor the presidential election on 2 March, citing what it called "severe restrictions" imposed on its work by the Russian government.

"We made every effort in good faith to deploy our mission, even under the conditions imposed by the Russian authorities", said Christian Strohal, the organization's director.

The 2011 Russian legislative elections were considered to be rigged in favor of the ruling party by a number of journalists and opposition representatives.