The Evolution of Kaluga Region Population Electoral Preferences in the Post-Soviet Era.

Relevance of the topic of master's thesis is that it has highly prognosis potential and it is urgent pressing theme before the presidential election in 2018. Object of the research is the electoral preferences of the population of the Kaluga region. The subject of research is the evolution of the electoral preferences of the Kaluga Region population at the federal elections in the years 1993-2016 in the context of municipal formations. The purpose of the study is to determine the characteristics of the evolution of the Kaluga region electoral culture. Tasks: 1. Determining the historical background of the formation of electoral preferences of the region; 2. Considering the demographic parameters and ethno-cultural characteristics of the population; 3. Analysis of the level of economic development; 4. Describing the administrative-territorial units of the region in terms of socio-economic development; 5. Analysis of the results of the federal elections in the region in the context of the region's municipalities and ideological camps election participants; 6. Analysis of the evolution of the electoral preferences of the population field for ideological camps; 7. Determining the type of regional electoral culture of the area to predict electoral behavior in the region in the medium term. The hypothesis of the study. The main factor influencing the electoral preferences of the population of Kaluga Region is a geographical proximity to Moscow, which determines the regional electoral culture of the Kaluga region as a transitional Central Russian. Main conclusions. In this work the analysis of the electoral preferences of the population of the Kaluga region was conducted by examining their evolution as a result of federal elections, which allowed the region to be included to transitional Central regional culture. The data enables to predict a reduced level of conformist voting of Kaluga Region in the future presidential elections in 2018 in Russian Federation.