June 22, 2022, 6:24 p.m.

Editor’s Note

Editor’s Note

Dear colleagues and friends,
The seventh (first in 2022) issue of our journal includes four papers and a virtual roundtable discussion.
The issue starts with a paper by Aleksei Rybin, which continues the discussion point of the previous issue—remote e-voting (Internet voting) that is gaining traction in Russian electoral space. The paper analyses the risks presented by this new form of voting and ways to counter those risks.
Stanislav Andreichuk’s reveals how the practice of funding of political parties and their election campaigns as well as practice of informing citizens of said funding fall short of the standards of financial transparency.
Arkadii Lyubarev’s paper analyzes the 2021 State Duma election vote returns and attempts an evaluation of vote overflow from parties in the 2016 election to parties in the 2021 election.
Aleksei Petrov’s paper describes the electoral phenomenon of Irkutsk Oblast, which retains electoral competition and a measurable level of opposition voting even under Russia’s ubiquitous electoral authoritarianism.
This issue continues the virtual roundtable discussion genre that was tried out in the previous three issues. This time the discussion centers on the distinctive nature of local government and municipal elections. The editorial board came up with eight questions that were forwarded to ten experts in the field of elections and municipal self-government.
I hope the new issue will further secure the journal’s status in academic circles and the pool of topics and authors will continue to grow.