Subject of Voter Bribery as Administrative Offence: Issues of Theory and Practice

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the legal nature and features of the subject of voter bribery as an independent administrative offense. The approaches expressed in the legal literature to understanding and interpreting both the tort itself in the form of voter bribery and its subject have been analyzed. The author›s defi nition of voter bribery is proposed. By this administrative off ense, it is proposed to mean an unlawful guilty act violating the norms of electoral and administrative legislation in the form of a grant (or promises) to provide a certain number of persons with material assets (property), property benefi ts, or property rights to voters during election campaigning in order to persuade them to exercise their active suff rage not freely, but in the interests of achieving a certain candidate for deputy (for an elected position) or by an electoral association of a favorable vote or election result for them, which entails the imposition of an administrative fi ne on guilty citizens, offi cials and legal entities. By the subject of voter bribery, the author proposes to understand the material substances (benefi ts) indicated in the law in the form of material assets (property) and property rights donated to voters, as well as in the form of unreasonable property benefi ts received by voters from the work performed (services provided) free of charge or on preferential terms. The article provides a species diff erentiation (typology) of the subject of voter bribery). The author substantiates the allocation of three types of the subject of voter bribery: material values, property benefi ts, and property rights. The legal features of these types of subject of voter bribery and their importance for the correct qualifi cation of voter bribery are highlighted. The article made proposals for further improvement of Russian legislation on administrative responsibility for bribery of voters.