ELECTORAL RIVALRY BETWEEN RULING PARTIES AND PARTIES IN OPPOSITION IN RUSSIA AND IN KAZAKHSTAN (A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS)

Abstract

The article by M.A. Kazbekova carries a comparative analysis of the latest 2007 elections in Kazakhstan and in Russia. She draws conclusions that political processes in these countries were similar in many respects; the authorities have relied on the creation of a political system with one dominant party; as a result, pro-presidential parties won elections: in Kazakhstan this was People's Democratic Party «Nur Otan» headed by N.A. Nazarbayev and in Russia the winner party was "United Russia" headed by its leader V. V. Putin; both «parties in power» successfully employer the tactics of dissipating the protest-inclined electorate and preventing opposition's consolidation round a single center as well as by means of recapturing certain slogans of the opposition; in both countries during elections influence of communists has declined.