The Urban-Rural Divide in the Russian Electorate and the Effect of Distance from Urban Centers

Abstract

A team of Russian and American geographers and political scientists examines what is perhaps the most evident correlate of aggregate voting patterns in Russia from 1991 to 1996—the urban-rural divide within the electorate, with urban areas consistently exhibiting greater support than their rural counterparts for candidates and parties that can be labeled pro-Reform or pro-Yel'tsin. The usual explanations for this pattern concern the greater proportion of young and educated voters in urban areas and the proximity of voters there to the ostensible benefits, promised or real, of reform. This essay, however, argues on the basis of a reassessment of the 1996 Presidential election second-round returns that a share of this correlation can be explained not by mere proximity to urban areas or the urban-rural characteristics of a rayon, but also by a rayon's proximity to regional and local political bosses—those political figures most likely to use their influence to gather votes for Yel'tsin's reelection. Journal ...