The Russian Army in the Electoral Battles of 1993–1999

Abstract

The formation of electoral democracy in Russia coincided with the entry of the state into a crisis phase of systemic transformation. The position of the military became especially difficult, which turned into an impoverished “military electorate”, for whose votes various parties fought. The purpose of the article is based on the study of specialized literature, as well as the analysis of a wide range of sources (periodicals, sociological research, electoral legislation) to consider the electoral behavior of military personnel in an extremely difficult situation that has developed both in the army and in the country. The relevance of the topic is an attempt to identify contradictions between the true electoral sympathies of soldiers and officers and the desire of the high command to influence the process of the free expression of their subordinates, as well as to distort the voting results in a more favorable light to convince the authorities of the loyalty of the Armed Forces. The scientific novelty consists in conducting a comprehensive study using an interdisciplinary approach (formal legal, historical, sociological, etc.). The article examines the norms of electoral legislation that regulated the process of implementing the electoral and political rights of military personnel, reveals the socio-political phenomenon of the “military electorate”, examines the federal election campaigns of 1993–1999. Since 1993, genuine election results in the army environment have been characterized by a high level of protest voting. But as soon as in the late 1990s there were trends to improve the situation, as well as a leader who put defense and security issues at the forefront, the army immediately felt and supported these changes. At the same time, the Russian army itself in the 1990s did not try to act as a consolidated electoral force to influence the crisis.