Implementation of Passive Electoral Right for Citizens of the Russian Federation in the Context of Digital Transformation of the Electoral Process: Key Digital Services

This article examines the primary digital services that facilitate the realization of passive electoral rights of citizens of the Russian Federation at the current stage of development of Russia’s electoral system. The author emphasizes that when studying the challenges of digitalizing electoral legal relations, it is essential to consider the doctrinal and normative approaches to defining concepts such as “digitalization”, “digital transformation”, and “digital technologies”, as established in legal doctrine and general regulatory acts in the field of digitalizing public administration. In this context, the author proposes using the term “IT asset of the electoral system of the Russian Federation” to describe comprehensive technical solutions such as remote electronic voting, the “Mobile Voter” technology, and others. The article explores specific aspects of implementing digital services that support the exercise of passive electoral rights by Russian citizens. It suggests legislating the use of a digital service for collecting voter signatures in support of candidate nominations (or party lists) via the Unified Portal of State and Municipal Services (replacing paper-based signature collection) during elections in territories under special legal regimes. The author also highlights the need to further developing electronic interaction between electoral commissions, candidates, and political parties through personal accounts on the aforementioned portal. This includes enabling the submission of required documents for notifying and registering candidacies. However, the accessibility of these digital services for citizens nationwide depends primarily on overcoming digital inequality in the Russian Federation. Efforts to address this issue are outlined in the provisions of the Presidential Decree on National Development Goals through 2030.