FORMATION OF CENTRAL ELECTORAL AUTHORITIES IN GERMANY AND RUSSIA: EXPERIENCE
OF COMPARATIVE LAW 

Maliy Denis Aleksandrovich, Candidate of juridical sciences, head of department for supervision over adherence of federal laws at the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Mordovia
(4 Lva Tolstogo street, Saransk, Russia), info@prokrm.ru

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Background. Features of the Central Election Commission of Russia, which are used by the Russian electoral legislation, create additional difficulties for determining the place of the said body in the system of public authorities. Thus, the CEC of Russia is defined as a federal state body, but the term “public authority” is not used. At the moment there is a controversy in legal science about a correlation these concepts. The study of foreign experience contributes to elucidation of the meaning of national regulations as well as perception of the experience of other countries. Objective – to determine the main characteristics of the Russian Central Election Commission and the central electoral authorities of the Federal Republic of Germany, to carry out a comparative analysis of the legal status of these bodies.
Materials and methods. The research tasks were implemented on the basis of the analysis of existing legislation, defining a system of organization of elections in Russia and Germany. As research methods the author used a method of analysis of normative and legal regulation, legal-historical and comparative-legal methods.
Results. The article defines features of the legal status of the head of the Federal Election and the Federal Commission on Elections composed of the Federal Commissioner as a chairman and eight appointed judges (Germany) as well as adduces the historical experience of regulation of elections organization in Prussia and the German Empire.
Conclusions. It is emphasized that creation of the CEC in Russia is a significant step forward in institutionalization of an independent electoral body, formed on a parity basis by various federal authorities. However, recognition of one or another system that meets the standards of democratic elections does not dependent on presence (or absence) of an independent central electoral body.

Central Election Commission of Russia, electoral system in Germany, head of the Federal Elections.

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