Political Responsibility of the Deputy of the Regional Parliament in the Russian Federation

Abstract

This work studies the distinctive features of political responsibility of regional deputies representing the interests of various electoral groups. The status of a regional parliament deputy in Russian regions is characterized in two ways. It is regulated not only by laws and ethical norms, but also by political guidelines. Regional deputies are held legally accountable for violating laws, and by straying from party or state guidelines, they risk being held politically accountable. This is why the object of study of this article is the negative consequences that regional deputies suffer as a result of the political practices in Russian regions. In 2016-2019, there was an expansion of legal grounds that affect termination of deputy duties. Deputies are frequently limited in their rights to address other participants of regional politics. In some cases, artificial barriers are created to interfere with the work of regional deputies. These limitations are political in nature, and thus have a vague definition in law. Because of that, the author pays special attention to the political norms that, if violated, result in special negative consequences for regional deputies, including their inability to perform their parliamentary duties.