The Electoral System of Russia: Legal Positions of the Constitutional Court

Relevance. The use of a variety of electoral systems in a state indicates the level of democracy in this state. In this regard, it is no coincidence that constitutional and legal science pays such close attention to this problem. Therefore, analyzing the issues related to assessing the admissibility of using the majority and proportional electoral systems, it is necessary to study the legal positions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation.
Purpose of this study is to clarify and systematize the legal positions of the Constitutional Court on the choice and legal regulation of the electoral system used.
Objective: study the Decisions of the Constitutional Court, determine the legal positions of the Constitutional Court on the possibility of applying a certain type of electoral system in the formation of collegial or sole elective bodies, investigate judicial practice on the issue of changing the chosen electoral system by the regional legislator, identify legal positions regarding the possibility of regulatory adjustments to overcome the shortcomings of proportional and majority electoral system.
Methodology. For the study, general scientific methods of scientific research and special methods of scientific research, such as formal legal and comparative legal, were used.
Results. The study made it possible to systematize the legal positions of the Constitutional Court on the use, change and adaptation of the applied electoral systems.
Conclusion. The first group of legal positions concerns the problem of adaptability of legislation to changes. The second group should include the arguments and conclusions of the court on the admissibility of the application of one or another electoral system as such. The third group includes the conclusions of the court about overcoming some of the negative properties of the corresponding electoral systems through the legislative regulation of public relations. The fourth group is formed by the legal positions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, due to the need to take into account the specifics of federal, regional and municipal elections when resolving the issue of choosing an electoral system. Based on the study of judicial practice, conclusions are drawn about the need to clarify and improve the applied electoral systems in Russia, since this is an important indicator of the democratic nature of modern Russian society.

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