Political parties, electoral systems and women's representation in the regional legislative assemblies of Russia, 1995-1998

The paper examines the impact exerted upon women's legislative representation by political parties and electoral systems under the specific conditions of the early phase of party system formation. Using the data from the 1995-8 regional legislative elections in Russia, the paper demonstrates that party nomination tends to replace independent candidacy as the major tool of the legislative recruitment of women. By assuming party labels, women enhance their electoral chances to a larger extent than men do. However, incentives to nominate women are most visible among strong organizations that often monopolize the local arenas of party politics. Under electoral systems with large district magnitudes, the overall importance of political parties increases. At the same time, such electoral systems support political fragmentation that makes ticket-balancing strategies less feasible. This explains why gains in party system development generated by electoral systems are not conducive to increased women's representation.