Electoral sultanate

In Russian political jargon, the term refers to regions where the results of the ruling party and pro-government candidates in elections are abnormally high (80% and more) with excessively high turnout (80% and more). Such abnormal results are achieved by various methods of electoral fraud combined with the lack of independent observers, strong regional branches of opposition parties and civic participation in general.

Despite its wide usage, the term is rarely explicitly defined. There are no clear criteria for determining which region can be considered electoral sultanate and which cannot – as a result, the list of electoral sultanates varies. Also, the prevalence of abnormal results varies from election to election by region, although there are regions that consistently demonstrate abnormal results. These are ethnic republics with a long history of falsifications (Chechen Republic, Republic of Ingushetia, Republic of Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkar Republic, Republic of Tyva, Republic of Mordovia, Karachay-Cherkess Republic, Republic of Bashkortostan, Republic of Tatarstan).

Another term close in content to the concept of "electorate sultanate" is the concept of "total falsifications" proposed by election analyst Sergey Shpilkin in his classification of regions by abnormal voting patterns. In the regions of "total falsifications", it is impossible to establish the real results of elections using statistical methods – precisely because of the full-scale electoral fraud within these regions.