"Absenteeism Must be Eliminated!", or Political Parties and Propaganda of Voting Right

Constitutional law science has no clear definition for legal means of combating absenteeism and their executives. This research focuses on the propaganda of voting right in Russia. Traditionally, the duty of promoting the voting right and the combat with absenteeism belonged to political parties. The author described the phenomenon of propaganda with its impact on constitutional and legal regulation, classified the law propaganda in Russia by purpose, methods, and subjects; identified the directions of propaganda expansion by purpose, and investigated the activities of Russian political parties in promoting the right to vote. The research involved the interdisciplinary approach, the method of systematic analysis of legal phenomena, and the historical-legal and formal-legal methods. Propaganda has a legal and psychological nature. On the one hand, it involves psychological manipulation and mass communication technologies; on the other hand, certain types of propaganda are regulated in the legislation of the Russian Federation, with distinct legal criteria and judicial practice. However, the legal regulation remains fragmentary, which is compensated by law enforcement practice. To prevent abuse, the Constitution of the Russian Federation establishes the limits of propaganda. Public authorities are the legal subjects of propaganda. Political parties should combat absenteeism to promote active and passive suffrage. However, only a few political parties promulgate the voting right, and this propaganda is limited and random. The author believes that the duty of promoting the voting right and combating absenteeism should be assigned to political parties and enshrined in the Federal Law on Political Parties.