The attitude of townspeople to the municipal election (three cases from the history of elections in Blagoveshchensk in the second half of XIX - early XX centuries)

The article studies the attitude of town residents to municipal self-government elections in Russia’s Far East in the latter half of XIX - early XX centuries. The author has selected three vivid and typical cases from electoral history in Blagoveshchensk whose records are kept in the Russian State Historical Archive of the Far East. This micro-historical study describes in detail legal and illegal methods of election campaign and election practices, demonstrates a change in the citizens’ social activity and their attitude to the election to self-government organs. The author shows the formation of groups with different political views and public interests and their increasing mobilization and confrontation during the elections. These processes are finally seen as resorting to illegitimate methods of electoral battle.