Publication | Report/Paper

Report of the IFES Delegation Studying the Evolution of the Electoral Process in the Russian Federation, March 25-26, 1992

Introduction

Much has changed since the last IFES delegation visited the former Soviet Union in September of 1991. The Union of the fifteen soviet Republics has been completely dissolved and a tenuous commonwealth formed. The communist Party has been routed from its positions of power and privilege. And steps are underway in each of the republics to fashion a new economic order, a new constitutional structure, and new election laws. The largest of these republics, the Russian Federation, is no exception.

The Russian Federation extends from the Baltic Sea in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east and from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea, the Caucasus, the Altai and Sayan mountains, and the Amur and Ussuri rivers in the south. It is bounded by Norway and Finland to the northwest; by Estonia, Latvia, Belarus, and Ukraine to the west; by Georgia and Azerbaijan to the southwest; and by Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China along the southern land border.

Currently, the Russian Federation comprises about 150,000,000 diverse people and is divided into 20 republics (up from the former 16 republics by the recent inclusion of four previously autonomous regions), one autonomous region, 55 districts, 10 autonomous districts, and two major cities (st. Petersburg and the capital of Moscow).

One need hardly retell the astonishing developments over the past year -- the attempted coup of August 1991, the rise of Boris Yeltsin as President of the Russian Federation, the dissolution of the soviet Union -- that have led to the current state of affairs in Russia. Suffice it to say that the Russian Federation is now debating a new constitution and has begun drafting a new election law. And in the interim, they have made some changes to the former election law that are likely to be retained in the new one.

This account of these developments must, however, be viewed as snapshot which is somewhat blurred by the many things that are still in motion. This report should therefore be considered an interim update to the Report of the IFES Delegation Studying the Evolution of the Electoral Process in the Soviet Union. March 17- 27. 1990, which is available from IFES.

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