The Political Geography of Russia's 2004 Presidential Election

Abstract

Three political scientists analyze the electoral geography of the 2004 Russian presidential election with a focus on the ethnic and regional dimensions of support for Vladimir Putin. In an effort to determine the extent to which patterns from previous elections persisted into the 2004 election, the authors examine a range of possible correlates, including support for Putin in 2000, a series of economic performance and civil society indicators, and the results of recent regional executive elections. The authors also discuss the tendency of the ethnic regions to give higher-than-average levels of electoral support to the regime's leader and what this may imply about the possibility of vote fraud before finally considering the implications of the electoral results for the future of democracy in Russia. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: H10, O10, R10. 5 figures, 4 tables, 33 references.