The “against all” column was first introduced by decree of President Boris Yeltsin on October 1, 1993, before the State Duma elections. On December 6, 1994, the federal law “On Basic Guarantees of the Electoral Rights of Citizens of the Russian Federation” was adopted, in which the column was legalized in elections at all levels, but the votes of voters who gave it preference did not affect the voting results.

In the law on presidential elections of May 17, 1995, a clause was introduced according to which the candidate who received the largest number of votes during the voting was considered elected, provided that the number of votes cast for this candidate was greater than the number of votes cast against all candidates. Subsequently, the status of the column “against all candidates” was also spelled out in the federal law “On ensuring the constitutional rights of citizens to elect and be elected to local government bodies” of November 26, 1996 . The elections were declared invalid if the “against all” column defeated the candidate who received the largest number of votes in a given district.

In the elections to the State Duma on December 7, 2003, the candidate “against everyone” won in three single-mandate districts. In Verkh-Isetsky district No. 162 of the Sverdlovsk region, 23% of voters voted against everyone, while only 21.6% voted for the leading candidate. In Ulyanovsk single-mandate district No. 181 of the Ulyanovsk region, 19.8% of voters voted against everyone, and 9.6% voted for the leading candidate. In the Eastern single-mandate district No. 207 of St. Petersburg, 23.9% of voters voted against everyone, while 21.8% voted for the leading candidate. The maximum result in the “against everyone” column ( 65.55%) was registered in the elections for the head of the Kurganinsky district of the Krasnodar Territory on December 5, 2004.

On December 26, 2004, in the second round of elections for the head of the administration of the Ulyanovsk region, the count received 25.16% (second place), on December 5, 2004, in the elections for the governor of the Bryansk region - 20.57% (second place), on February 6, 2005, in the second round of elections head of the administration of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug - 20.21% (third place).

On July 21, 2005, amendments were made to federal legislation that gave constituent entities of the Russian Federation the right to remove the “against all” column from ballots in regional and local elections.

On July 12, 2006, Russian President Vladimir Putin abolished the column with the law “On amendments to certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation regarding the abolition of the form of voting against all candidates (against all lists of candidates).”

Olga Dorokhina

History of the “against everyone” column