The Party Discipline of the State Duma Deputies after the Mixed-Member Electoral System Renewal

The study examines the level of party voting discipline displayed by current Russian deputies. The objective is to discover whether deputies elected since the reintroduction of the mixed-member electoral system in 2016 showed a diverse level of party voting discipline. The study expands on the existing research and verifies results of earlier analysis proving weaker party discipline among politicians elected from single-member districts (SMDs). A sample of over 500 thousand deputy votes is analyzed with multiple regression analysis and other methods of quantitative research. The research explores the influence of several variables including the type of elections, political faction membership, double candidacy of a deputy and his incumbency in the previous term of office. Evaluation of results implies that the type of elections does not have a significant impact on party discipline of deputies. The most noticeable is the impact of the membership in various political factions. Greater independence in voting typical for SMD deputies does not manifest considerably in Russia because of the impact of the local hybrid regime and because the majority of SMD deputies belong to the faction of United Russia. Members of a faction with such importance tend to be less motivated to vote against their political..