Статьи на ту же тему

События и комментарии экспертов фонда

| 01 марта, 2013

Kostin: a return to single mandate candidates will help create a culture of “сandidates on the bench ”

Pravda.ru publication

Vladimir Putin has introduced a bill ‘On the Election of State Duma Deputies in the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation’ which envisages the transition to a mixed electoral system – both in national electoral lists and districts - and in single-seat constituencies. On Friday, the various reactions to the President’s initiative (not all of which were positive) was discussed by experts, political consultants and representatives from political parties. At the request of ‘Pravda.Ru’, the former head of the Presidential Department on Domestic Policy and present head of the Foundation for the Development of Civil Society (FDCS), Konstantin Kostin commented on reaction to the bill.

‘One can understand the reaction from the Communists and the Liberal Democratic Party’ said Kostin. ‘In many regions these parties are weakly represented and therefore it will be very hard for them to succeed in single mandate constituencies.’

‘With regard to the initiative itself, I believe that it will have a positive impact on the formation and development of our political system by increasing competition. It will also bring about the formation of a regional elite and “сandidates on the bench”.

‘Firstly, the appearance of single-member constituencies will encourage political competition in the regions. The candidates can nominate the Party which is strongest in the region and can put forward representatives of whichever Party is most influential in the region. Then this Party’s candidates will, to put it simply, become the most powerful local politicians. This is a positive move - there were people in the Federal Assembly who understood the local perspective very well.’

‘It would also provide an additional impulse for party building: the State Duma set up parliamentary groups made up of single-mandate candidates who felt pretty good about themselves and who played an important part in setting up Party structures.’ The most obvious example is - to quote Kostin - ‘The People’s Deputy; first of all this was simply a group of deputies and which then became the foundation for a political party.’

‘As for the “bench personnel”, then one should remember that up until 2005 one of the most likely candidates for governor in the elections was considered to be the single mandate deputy who personally knew the region well and was also well known to the residents. He was always on the short list – along of course with the acting head of the region, the head of legislature and directors of large companies (if they exist in the region). This was particularly characteristic of those regions which were essentially only single-mandate districts. For example the Pskov region, Ivanov region and a whole range of others.’