Electoral institutions and party cohesion in the Russian duma

Russia's mixed single-member-district (SMD)-party list electoral system invites analysis of the effect of electoral rules on legislators' behavior in the context of an invariant set of legislative and constitutional rules. The paper estimates a model of the effects of electoral mandate and party affiliation on levels of factional cohesion in floor voting. No major within-faction differences between list and SMD members in levels of voting agreement were found, but interfactional differences in cohesiveness were related to the overall mix of list and SMD deputies within them. The implications of the findings for the development of a competitive party system in Russia are discussed.