Territorial Election Commission

Territorial Election Commission (TEC) is the intermediate part of election organization in Russia. The main function of TECs is to organize elections within a specific territory which includes training of commission members, equipping of polling stations, allocating of budgets for election organization, reviewing of complaints against lower-level commissions, appointing members of lower-level commissions, and other tasks.

Most often, the boundaries of TECs correspond to the administrative borders of Russian first-level municipalities (municipal districts, urban districts). Several territorial commissions may be organized within one administrative district if it has a sufficiently large number of voters.

A TEC consists of commissioners with a decisive vote. Commission members are nominated by political parties and public organizations. Half of the commission members should be represented by political parties represented in the State Duma, regional legislature or local council. The other half may be represented by municipal employees, public organizations, and other political parties. The number of TEC members can vary from 5 to 14.

Like Precinct Election Commissions, TECs are also collegial bodies where decisions are made by majority vote. Each TEC has a chairperson, a deputy chairperson and a secretary. The chairperson is a key figure in the commission, responsible for leading its work. Additionally, the chairperson signs most of the documents produced during the work process of the commission.

Territorial Election Commissions (TECs) are supposed to be independent bodies, but often they do not operate as such. Many TECs have close ties to local municipal administrations. Structurally, many TECs are located within buildings housing local administrations, which significantly affects the possibility of their independence. There has been a lot of cases when TECs members in charge were instructed by local administrations to organize desired outcomes.