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ELECTIONS BY PARTY LISTS CAN BE SPREAD TO REGIONAL PARLIAMENTS

MOSCOW, September 15 (RIA Novosti) - During his address at the enlarged cabinet session on September 13, President Putin made public the idea of electing the State Duma exclusively by party lists. In principle, there are no legislative obstacles to spreading the formula, called proportionate in political parlance, also to the regional parliaments, Vremya Novostei writes.

The federal law limits the imagination of the regional lawmakers only in one aspect: "no fewer than a half of the deputy mandates" must be distributed between candidates on the party lists. This "no fewer" means that many more, or all, mandates can go to party candidates.

Thirteen Federation members introduced the proportionate system long ago, and United Russia immediately won elections in 12 of them, getting 44 of the 55 seats in Kabardin-Balkaria, 12 of 15 in Kalmykia, 21 of 24 in Mordovia, and 46 of 50 in Tatarstan. It was the only party that negotiated the 7% barrier in Tatarstan (the party "lost" four seats to the Communists, so that the parliament would not be one-party at least nominally).

Two or three candidates from several parties or blocs seep into parliaments where the barrier was left at 5%, which creates an illusion of plurality, though the local legislative assemblies are controlled by United Russia.

The proliferation of the proportionate system to all regional parliaments can have two consequences. If the elections are honest, a genuine two-party system can be created in some regions. For example, a right-wing coalition can become the second parliamentary party in Moscow and the KPRF can do the trick in some regions. But if the powerful resources of the authorities are used at regional elections, we will get a clone of the State Duma, where one party is the boss who rubberstamps the decisions of the executive authorities.