Features of the gubernatorial elections in the Yaroslavl region in 2022

Abstract

The article describes the legal foundations and political features of the gubernatorial elections in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. In particular, authors focus on the political situation before the elections of the Governor of the Yaroslavl region in 2022. They come to conclusion that in the Yaroslavl region, the election campaign took place in the absence of political competition primarily due to the use of the “municipal filter” in the gubernatorial election system of the region, providing the overwhelming advantage of in the use of administrative, informational and financial resources to the main candidate, as well as low activity of other candidates. In addition, there were other important elements of the election campaign of federal leaders of public opinion, in particular federal ministers and senior state officials. Finally, one of the key features of the gubernatorial elections in the Yaroslavl region was the possibility of self-nomination of candidates that provided a solid public distance between the main candidate and the widely criticized United Russia party. These conclusions are confirmed with the help of the analysis of the political situation in the Yaroslavl region before the start of the election campaign, the overview of actions and resources of the main contenders based on open sources, and the content analysis of mass media.