Prospects of Electronic Voting in Russia: Technological and Political Aspects

Abstract

The main areas of application of digital technologies in the Russian political process are related to the conduct of electronic voting and the use of Internet services for the development of new forms of political participation both at the national level and in the feld of local self-government The growth in the number of Internet users, which has become a steady trend over the past 20 years, creates new conditions for interaction between government structures and society They include both unknown risks of destabilization associated with increased demands on state institutions and reduced confdence in the government, as well as new opportunities for interaction between the state and the public in socially signifcant areas of public administration The implementation in practice of the course outlined by the Digital Economy program and designed to ensure Russia’s competitive advantages, taking into account the global trends of the expectation or the onset (according to various estimates) of the fourth industrial revolution, creates a new context for the development of political processes In these conditions, the author considered electronic voting technologies an integral part of the development of the modern state, and this view is typical, including for a signifcant part of the political elites.