Rosyjscy gubernatorzy – powrót do wyborów bezpośrednich
- Institution: Uniwersytet Gdański, Gdańska Wyższa Szkoła Humanistyczna
- Year of publication: 2012
- Source: Show
- Pages: 54-74
- DOI Address: http://dx.doi.org/10.15804/npw2012204
- PDF: npw/02/npw2012104.pdf
One of the most important decisions during the transformation of the government and the formation of the Russian Federation’s political system has been a creation of the institution of governor – a director of the regional administration appointed by the country’s president. The governor’s institution has become one of the marking elements in the Russian political system. Over time the governor’s authority position was submitted to changes. During the years of political transformation 1992–1996 the sources of regional power legitimization of the administration’s leaders have been various, some of them have been nominated by the president, others by inhabitants of the region. In 1995 a bill had been accepted, according to which all Russian federation leaders will be elected by inhabitants of each regions. The years 1996–1999 have been the full bloom period of the „gubernatorial” Russia, when regional administration’s leaders concentrated in their hands a very wide range of formal and informal competencies and of real authority. The governor’s position was changed after Vladimir Putin’s accession to power. New national elites perceived an excessive authority of regional elites and direct gubernatorial elections as the main source of the country’s instability and as the main threat for security of the state. Therefore a decision has been taken to leave the direct gubernatorial elections in favor of the governors nomination mechanism by the country’s president with the agreement of the local legislatures. The change of the election’s way has implied that administration’s leaders of the federation’s subjects have become part of the federal structure nomenclature, formed by decisions taken at the central level. The governor’s corps has become an instrument in the hands of the central power protecting its control on the sociopolitical and economical processes in the regions. In the last month we could observe a process of correction of the previous political course. Actually it can be heard that the role of citizens should be increased in the social control’s processes and one must go back to the direct elections of governors by Russian regions inhabitants. In January 2012 a corresponding law had been presented to the State Duma. An intended return to direct gubernatorial elections is an important element of the Russian Federation political system’s evolution.