Elections and Political Order in Russia

In december 1993 Russia held its first mutiparty election in over 75 years in the hope that it would usher in a new democratic political order. However, the success of right-wing populist Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democartic Party of Russia and other anti-reform forces shocked the world.

This book provides the first volume-length analysis of the 1993 elections to the Federal Assembly, focusing on the main events and players of the campaign and examining their impact on contemporary Russian politics and society. Investigates the extent to which the elections could be considered 'free and fair', by assessing the programmes and campaign techniques of the competing electoral associations, patterns of voting, the influence of the media, the significance of local elites and the role of the Yeltsin administration.

A study of electoral traditions in tsarist and Soviet Russia sets the voting within its historical context, and the legacy of Soviet political practices and attitudes is considered. In addition, assesses the development of the post-Soviet political order. It looks at the evolving party system and the new power relationships being created and, in particular, investigates the important role of the presidency in the consolidation of a stable democracy in Russia.