Elections to the Pskov Regional Assembly of Deputies (2016)

In February 2016, deputies of the regional Assembly of the fifth convocation approved a scheme of single-member constituencies ^[4] for holding elections of deputies of the regional parliament of two subsequent convocations. According to federal law, the new constituency scheme developed by the regional Election Commission and approved by the regional assembly of deputies will be valid for ten years ^[5] . The need to adjust the existing boundaries of the districts was due to a change in federal legislation, a decrease in the population of the region, as well as a change in the borders and names of some rural settlements that occurred as a result of the administrative reform carried out in 2015. The number of constituencies remained the same - 22, in each of them the average norm of representation of voters was observed ^[6] .

Party List Elections

Five parties submitted lists of candidates without collecting voter signatures: United Russia ^[7] , the Communist Party ^[8] , LDPR ^[9] , Fair Russia ^[10] , Yabloko ^[11] . The remaining political associations - the Patriots of Russia ^[12] , the Growth Party ^[13] and the Homeland ^[14] - needed to collect from 2775 to 3053 signatures (0.5% of the number of voters) to register the nominated list ^[15] .

A single list of candidates from the Rodina party for the elections to the regional Assembly of the sixth convocation was not registered - the electoral association was unable to provide the required number of signatures in its support (2414 out of 2969 collected were recognized as valid) ^[16] . Seven parties were included in the ballots for the election of deputies of the regional parliament.

Constituency Election

In 22 districts, 117 candidates claimed mandates, eight of them in self-nomination. Self-nominated candidates had to enlist the support of voters and submit to the district election commissions an average of 703-900 signatures ^[22] .

When distributing the mandates of deputies of the Pskov Regional Assembly since 2011 ^[24] , a modified Imperial dividers method is used ^[25] , in which the sum of votes cast for each party is sequentially divided by numbers, starting from two, to the number of distributed deputy mandates (election quota) )

When distributing within each single list, first of all, deputy mandates go to the candidates included in the general regional part in the order of their placement.

Further, the mandates are distributed within the list between regional groups of candidates in descending order of share - one mandate in turn. If the percentage is equal, preference is given to that regional group of candidates for which a larger number of votes was cast. Within a regional group, mandates are transferred in the order of the candidates in the group.

List Results ^[26]

Candidates from the general regional part of the list of the United Russia party, Andrei Turchak and Ivan Tsetsersky, refused to receive deputy seats. Vladimir Zhirinovsky also refused a seat in the regional parliament ^[27] .

Results for single-mandate constituencies and single constituency ^{[28] [26]}

In the elections to the Pskov Regional Assembly of the sixth convocation in all single-mandate constituencies, representatives of the United Russia All-Russian Political Party won. On September 29, 2016, the Election Commission of the region adopted a resolution on the transfer of vacant deputy mandates following the refusals of registered candidates elected to the new composition of the regional Assembly and the registration of elected deputies ^[29] . On October 5, 2016, the first organizational session was held, during which the chairman was elected - Alexander Kotov and his deputies, the structure was approved, committees were formed, their leadership was elected ^[30] .