Anatoly V. Kurochkin

The theme of constitutionalization of political parties has been poorly studied in Russian legal science and requires consistent analysis. One of the factors that predetermines the vector of constitutionalization is the principles of legal regulation. Using the example of the Russian institution of political parties, the features of the development of constitutional legislation are traced and a dynamic constitutional reality is being formed. The abstractions “multi-party system” and “political diversity” involved in the Constitution predetermined a special mechanism for the constitutionalization of party legal relations in the Russian Federation. Their official interpretation in acts of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation and fragmentary disclosure in sectoral legislation lead to gaps in legal regulation and legal conflicts. The principles of legal regulation of party relations as the subject of research are aimed at resolving the latter. The main methodological technique is the theory of constitutionalization, developed by domestic legal scholars. Also involved in the work: the institutional approach, the method of legal hermeneutics and the systemic method. These methods made it possible to distinguish between the categories of “constitutionalization”, “formalization” and “institutionalization”, as well as to identify differences between the “principles of legal regulation of party relations” and “principles of party activity”. The work compares the norms from individual sources of legal regulation of political parties of different industry affiliations. This made it possible to identify the essence of legal principles and their purpose in the process of constitutionalization.

The problem of legal technique in Russian legislation on political parties is a current direction in the constitutional and legal doctrine. One of the means of legal technique in party law is presumptions. They are based on the legal recognition of a certain fact without the need to establish it by law enforcement instruments. The ambiguous understanding of presumptions at the theoretical level predetermined the complexity of their perception among legal scholars specializing in party legal relations. Thus, they are mixed with related legal structures (legal values, principles and guarantees). This problem is complicated by the uneven development of the legal positions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, as well as the imbalance in judicial practice, in which it is necessary to interpret party-legal collisions on the basis of a certain legal regime. Therefore, presumptions in the institution of political parties are usually divided into universal (constitutional-legal and civil-legal), special (administrative-legal) and specific (party-legal) according to the criterion of the relationship of norms in the branches of law. The main methodological technique was structural analysis, because it ensured the identification of normative elements in the current party legislation. The systemic method helped to correlate party-legal norms with norms from related legal institutions, which used similar legal techniques. As a result of the analysis of party legislation, similarities and differences between party-legal presumptions and presumptive elements ensuring the procedure for implementing the law were revealed.