"reappointment" - 1 õppematerjal

Strategies of creating a dominant party – the case of UR

The first of these clearly supported Putin's centralizing program, as it gave the president the right to appoint Russia's regional governors. Surely, this step had great influence on political parties, especially on United Russia, as the president's power of appointment is a very strong incentive for governors to join the party: with no independent electoral mandate, governors were forced to earn the approval of the president in order to secure reappointment (Reuter 2010: 299). Thus, the new law gave the president real power over the most influential regional actors in Russia and by doing that helped to maintain the electoral supremacy of United Russia. The amendment to the law ,,On the Election of Duma Deputies", which was passed in 2005 states that all 450 Duma members are elected on party lists in a single nationwide constituency under proportional representation (Law on Elections of Deputies to the State Duma, Article 1)