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for measuring the occupational status of all SMD candidates in the selected districts. Candidates
with no previous experience were given a rating of one. Those with local experience, usually
mayors or city council members, gained rating of two. A rating of three was given to those who
had low-level regional experience, or who had been party-list members of the Duma previously.
Regional elites, including governors, legislative heads, and prominent industry heads, were given
a rating of four. A rating of five was given exclusively to incumbents from that specific SMD.
The highest rating, a six, was given to candidates who had previously held a prominent national
office. This included the former Prime Ministers Viktor Chernomyrdin and Sergei Stepashin,
oligarch and former Yeltsin associate Boris Berezovskii, and former Politburo member, Yegor
Ligachev. Three former Deputy Prime Ministers were also running for district seats and were
categorized at this level as well.
Once each candidate’s individual level of experience was quantified, I created a variable,
rel_exp, which measures the candidate’s level of experience in comparison to his or her most
experienced competitor. The rel_exp variable was calculated for each candidate based on the
particulars of each district race. This was done by dividing the candidate’s experience value by
the highest value among all other competitors in that district race. Two candidates with the same
level of experience would therefore achieve a relative experience value of one. A level-four
candidate running against a level-two candidate would have a relative value of two, while the
level-two opponent would have a relative value of one-half.
This variable is expected to have a positive effect on the outcome of the Duma race,
which leads to hypothesis one:
Hypothesis 1: The greater a candidate’s relative level of experience, the more likely
he or she will be elected.
Convention