The 2018–2019 Regional Election: Voters’ Trust in the Authorities Continues to Decline

Abstract

September 8 was a single voting day in Russia: 13 constituent entities of the Russian Federation elected deputies of state legislative bodies ; 19 constituent entities elected their heads . This was one of the main events of 2019 for the domestic political life of Russia, because the results of the elections, in fact, reflect the socio-political agenda of today; they show people’s attitude toward the political and economic course implemented by the Russian government and serve as a criterion for assessing its effectiveness. The following materials provide an analysis of the electoral preferences of Russians, manifested in the level of support for the head of state and reflecting the interests of the ruling elites of the United Russia party; in the dynamics of voter turnout in Russia and in the number of votes cast for parliamentary parties representing the systemic opposition. To obtain an objective “picture” of today, we analyse the results of the previous elections (2017–2018), as well as the last three elections to the State Duma (2007, 2011, 2016) and the presidential elections in which Vladimir Putin took part (2000, 2004, 2012, 2018)

Keywords

• trust
• public administration efficiency
• elections
• president
• president
• electoral preferences