Kovin Vitaliy
Abstract: This article examines the reasons for some cases of significant deviations in political parties’ results of 2016 elections in three regions of the Urals: Perm Krai, Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk regions. Various manifestations of “local identity” are seen to be a key factor influencing the electoral preferences of the voters. In a number of cases, these preferences differ significantly from the averages. Electoral behavior of Russian voters is known as changeable and difficult to relate to any classic theories. Motives for their participation and non-participation in elections, “instruments” that they use to inform their choice can significantly differ from one electoral campaign to another, and even within one electoral campaign. During national and regional elections, the biggest majority of “electoral deviations”, which have a local origin, is found on a local level, i.e., on the level of local settlement outside big cities. This article examines three particular cases of three Ural cities during the 2016 election when the results of voting were determined by local issues. It is found that local motives for electoral preferences include supporting nominated “fellow countryman”; supporting local politician (a district head, a mayor or an MP) when they have been promoted to a higher executive position; attracting attention to an urgent problem (e.g. local factory crisis). This article suggests that these local factors, especially voting for a “fellow countryman”, are the manifestation of the sense of the local community and the traditionalist culture of some voters, and are
temporary and situational in their nature.
Keywords: elections, electoral preferences, local community, local identity, fellow countryman.