Toward the problem of political absenteeism

Background. Political absenteeism is a serious problem for modern society, as this process negatively affects both democratic processes in general and the legitimacy of government in particular. Given the growing distrust of political institutions, it is important to investigate the causes of low voter turnout and look for ways to increase it. The purpose of the work is to analyze the factors contributing to the spread of political absenteeism, as well as to formulate proposals to increase the political activity of citizens. Materials and methods. The implementation of the research objectives was achieved based on the analysis of publicly available data provided by the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation. The key in this study was the indicator of voter turnout (political activity). The methodological basis of this work consists of content analysis methods, which identify the causes that influence the spread of political absenteeism in Russia. Results. The problem of the spread of political absenteeism in Russia as a whole and in the Penza region is investigated, in particular, the causes of this phenomenon are analyzed. Conclusions. The study of the data provided by the CEC of the Russian Federation allows us to conclude that there is a problem of political absenteeism both in the country and in a particular region (Penza region). At the same time, a number of proposals have been formulated to combat this phenomenon, the implementation of which could have a positive impact on the current situation.