Local elections in new regions will be held only on party lists

Elections of deputies of local self-government bodies (LSG) in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions will be held, as well as elections to legislative assemblies, exclusively according to the proportional system, i.e. deputies will be elected according to party lists. Majoritarian (single-seat) systems are usually used in local-level elections, says political analyst Ilya Grashchenkov. “The level of LSG is not about confrontation of party ideologies, but about local problems. One candidate promises to build a road, another promises to paint benches. And people vote either for shops or for the road. And not for ideology, choosing a party list,” he says.

In this case, the decision to hold elections under a proportional system is explained by a rational approach to the electoral system: sometimes municipalities are not entirely controlled by the Russian Federation, and it is not yet completely clear how the elections of single-mandate deputies representing these territories could be held. In addition, as Anton Rudakov, an electoral lawyer, notes, the new regions “conceal” a large number of candidates who may hold different views. And list elections are more controlled than single-member districts or mixed systems, he said.