Public Discussions on the Reform of the City Electoral System of the Russian Empire at the Turn of the 20th Century

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of reforming city elecgtroral system, which was raised in the works of political writers, economists, jurists, and local government officials of the Russian Empire at the turn of the 20th century. For the first time in historiography, the author highlights the essence and contents of the proposals to reform the system of city elections in Russia during the period under consideration on the basis of the works mentioned above. The totality of the sources considered reflects the main points of view on the problem of the system of city elections among representatives of various areas of public opinion: liberals, Social Democrats, Social Revolutionaries, conservatives, and bureaucracy. The attitude of political writers and journalists to the current electoral legislation and initiatives for its development is shown. It is noted that the main disadvantages of the election system were a narrow constituency, virtually unilateral nature of representation in city dumas that led to the usurpation of city administration by certain categories of citizens, and high electoral qualifications. The importance of solving the national religious issue for cities with a complex ethnic composition in the Caucasus is highlighted, which was due to the contradictions of legislative norms on the permissible number of deputies in city dumas from among non-Christians to the established practice when Muslims made up the majority of the population in some cities. The content of the discussions on the possibility of introducing an educational qualification for granting the right to vote is considered. The main approaches to expanding the number of voters and ensuring regular changes in the composition of city duma members are shown: granting voting rights to the owners of real estate that was built on the land leased from the city, owners and tenants of apartments, and the introduction of a ban on re-election to city dumas. The author highlights the initiatives and projects on the introduction of universal suffrage to defend the interests of all groups and categories of the population in city local government, the transition to proportional elections, granting voting rights to women, full transition to a constituency election system, and the separation of powers of the mayor as the head of the executive and administrative institutions of city government.

Keywords

• city elections
• city regulations of 1892
• city dumas
• universal suffrage
• women’s suffrage
• property qualification
• educational qualification