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Election Commission Divides Country
The Central Elections Commission announced the 153 areas of the country from which members of the State Duma may be elected yesterday. This year's Duma elections will be the first under a fully proportional system. Under the law “On the Election of State Duma Members,” the list of candidates must encompass the entire country and be divided into a minimum of 80 regional groups of between 650,000 and 3 million voters. Groups may be formed across the boundaries of adjacent subjects of the federation. The procedure for forming such groups is complex and already in dispute, however.
The Communist Party wishes to united Sakhalin region and Kamchatka Territory, while Just Russia wants to join Sakhalin with Maritime Territory, and United Russia wants to merge it with Khabarovsk Territory. Commission chairman Vladimir Churov admitted that a separate decision will have to be made on that question. Kaliningrad Region may also require special handling. There are special rules for the exclave that allow it to form a group with any other subject of the federation, no matter how far away from it. Some members of the Commission recommended uniting it with Leningrad Region. The Communist Party is in favor of uniting it with Pskov Region, while United Russia wants to add Russian votes abroad to Kaliningrad.
The Commission will be able to refuse to register parties with improperly formed regional groups. There are also about 15 sparsely populated regions that will have no chance of electing representatives of their own to the Duma under the new system, since populous regions are favored under it. Almost all single-mandate districts have been broken up. That will be to the disadvantage of smaller parties that depended on them to maintain their presence in the Duma.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 09, 2007
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