Political Parties of Tomsk Region on 1993-1994 elections

Federal parties and political organizations, their regional divisions and independent candidates took part in the Federal Assembly of Russia elections which were held on December 12, 1993 and in regional Duma election (March 27, 1994). Th blocks "Choice of Russia", "Yabloko" and CPRF are considered to be the most active in Tomsk Region. Some local political organizations ("Solidarity and Reforms", "For Labor and Justice") were created as well. Most parties had to face serious problems creating their local organizations. In Tomsk Region two alternative divisions of "Choice of Russia" appeared. Before the election to the Duma of Tomsk Region one of the most famous local politicians, S. Sulakhshin, announced that he was not a member of the block anymore. The Republican Party of Russia was split as well: part of its regional divisions, including Tomsk Region one, joined "Choice of Russia". But that decision was made by party authorities without consulting with party members many of whom supported "Yabloko". In December 1993 LDPR in Tomsk Region was too weak to choose its two representatives to be included into party list. A considerable amount of independent candidates shows that activity of political parties didn't influence electoral behavior significantly. At the preparation stage, the elections became the subject of lively discussion - about the time they should be held and the quality of the normative base. CPRF and "Yabloko" considered the elections to be "non-democratic", but they decided to take the opportunity to develop political agitation. The results of the elections of December 12, 1993 showed the absence of strict correlation between party-list and single-member districts voting: situations when the candidate supported by "Choice of Russia" emerged as the winner at the same district as LDPR were common. On the election to the Duma of Tomsk Region the amount of resources (administrative, financial) was one of the most important success factors while ideology didn't play a very important role. Despite the fact that the elections to the federal and regional parliaments showed that strong political organizations in Russia were almost absent, and the rate of political culture and party identification were pretty low, they became an important step at party building process, as they were an indicator of party influence and stimulated the understanding of their role in political life.

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