Paper/Speech Details of Conference Program for the 20th NISPAcee Annual Conference Program Overview Local Government Author(s) Irina Fedorova The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration Kaluga Russian Federation Title The political parties and the local self-government reform in the RF (based on the municipal elections in the Kalujskaya oblast) File Paper files are available only for conference participants, please login first. Presenter Irina Fedorova Abstract Local self-government represents as a some kind of borderline thing between the state and the society. Ideally, this authority level shall perform the effective representation of interests, therefore the political parties’ role in the electoral process, in the local self-government organs functioning should be more appreciable. The system of local self-government in Russia was to pass through a long and hard way of formation. The Constitution of 1993 barely proclaimed the independence of local self-government. During the years of 1993-1995 the State Duma adopted several significant laws aimed at the local self-government development, and in 1996 Russia joined The European Charter of Local Self-Government. Subsequently, the system of local self-government , while being constructed, was to be examined in the cycle of appropriate elections. In almost all regions one or two cycles of municipal representative bodies elections took place. In all 45 municipalities of the Kalujskaya oblast the results of main election, re-run of election and special election of 1999-2002 meant the formation of local self-government representative bodies and the election of municipalities’ public officers. Compared to the previous season the protest vote level remained the same (2-8 %). The overwhelming part of deputies were fielded either directly by electors or by self-promotion, 2,4 % of nominees were fielded by the political parties. There was practically no party interference in the elections of heads of municipalities. As to the creation of municipal election commitees, thr political parties showed their worth better. The most active were the oblast offices of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the regional office of the Motherland. In 2005 another stage of the local self-government reform ended. It resulted in the increase in the number of municipalities (319 instead of 45 (284 of them are reborn). Correspondingly, a dramatic expantion of the deputies: 2871 members. The pol. parties inclusion into the municipal elections process took place while electoral commitees were being created. The most active were the oblast offices of the parties the United Russia, the CPRF and the Liberal Democratic Party. The actions of the party Apple and the Right Wing-Alliance were less noticeable. In 2005 10% of nominees were fielded by the political parties. 5,8% of them became deputies. With a considerable gap the United Russia was leading. The second and the third places went to the CPRF and the party of Jirinovskiy. The more active pol. parties' participation in municipal electoral campaigns was observed in 2010. In 95% of the Kalujskaya oblast municipalities full-scale elections were held. The United Russia performed active nomination-about 80% of mandates, less than 10%-the CPRF, the Liberal Democratic Party and the Fair Russia, each taken separately. In the long term the political parties got represented on the municipal level. The next aspect of the parties' represantation on the municipal authority level comprises in formation of deputy groups in the representative bodies of municipal authority. Here the United Russia is leading again. Currently the number of deputy groups in the representative bodies of the oblast municipalities accounts for less than 10% of the tottal number of deputy teams. The major conclusions: 1. The decline of electoral activity in forming of government bodies for the last 7 years is not limited to federal and regional levels. This process also covers the level of local self-government. 2. The political parties participation in formation of local self-government bodies, on the whole, looks passive. To sum up it should be noted that as the question of the political parties participation in municipal elections is still unsettled so it follows that russian multiplicity of parties is still in a formative stage.
