¹ 3 - 2006
Kalinin K.O.

Factors of Electoral Demand at Russian Political Market (With the Elections of the Governor of Volgogradskaya Region as Example)


The article tackles analysis of key explicative models of Russian citizens’ electoral behaviour. With the use of the materials of a mass poll realized in the course of the elections of the governor of Volgogradskaya region, the work here summarized, presents examination of the factors making for the voting in favour of, respectively, one of the two mutually confronting political actors – the incumbent and his opponent. The configuration of the electoral supply, e.g. the set of the candidates and of their characteristics, forestalls the electoral demand, that is to say the demand on the part of the electors, which demand essentially differs in the voting for the incumbent and for the opposition. Comparison of these factors allows the author to explicate the results of the regional elections, as well as to estimate the extent of applicability – in Russian political context – of the existing conceptions of electoral behaviour.