Chirikova A. Criteria for the Selection of Heads of Municipalities: Formal Prescriptions and Real Practices. Vlast’ i elity [Power and Elites], 2022, 9 (1): 164–196. (In Russian)

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Abstract

This article discusses the most urgent problem of the selection of candidates for the position of the heads of municipalities — the criteria for selecting candidates in small Russian towns by the competitive commissions, which replaced direct elections. The competitive model is considered very controversial and causes numerous disputes among specialists. Therefore, the paper pays special attention to the formal foundations for the functioning of such a model in the assessments of lawyers, on the one hand, on the other hand, empirical estimates of the most popular candidate selection criteria given by regional and local elites are given. The study was conducted in three Russian regions with different socio-economic profiles. The assessments given by the regional elites were supplemented by the assessments of the local elites in four small Russian towns. A total of 72 interviews were conducted in 2018–2020. Критерии отбора глав муниципалитетов: формальные предписания... 195 Based on the materials received, it can be argued that so far the competitive model of elections has not received an unambiguous assessment either from legal scholars or from representatives of the elite corps. Describing the current selection criteria, regional and local elites admit that the assessment of the personal qualities of candidates is recognized by decision makers as the most important in competitive selection, but it is this assessment that is quite subjective, which leads to the dominance of informal practices over formal ones. The local elites are more focused on the leadership qualities of a candidate when choosing, while the majority of regional officials prefer “performers”