Abstract

Introduction. In the political science literature, there are several main approaches that explain the weakness of the political parties’ institution in Russia. These concepts point to reasons that are outside political parties. This study attempts to link the low status of political parties in Russia with the quality of party top management, in particular, with the parties’ regional leaders (United Russia, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Liberal Democratic Party and A Just Russia). The purpose of the study is to create a collective portrait of the heads of regional branches of parliamentary political parties. Methods. The identification of elites in this work is carried out within the framework of the positional approach. The main method for collecting and analyzing data is the biographical approach. Scientific novelty. An additional explanatory model of the weakness of political parties’ institution in Russia is proposed - the quality of party leadership. The factors influencing the internal party processes are considered. Results. A comparative analysis of the social and professional characteristics of the leaders of the parties’ regional branches, as well as their career trajectories is carried out. The average statistical portrait of the regional leaders of parliamentary parties is revealed. Conclusions. The head of the party’s regional branch is a middle-aged man with a higher technical education who has not served in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and is a native of the deputy corps or the business community.