On September 22, the State Historical Museum (GIM) opens for visitors the exhibition «The Right to Choose. A Brief History of Russian Democracy» . This is a joint project of the Central Election Commission, the State Historical Museum and a number of other Russian museums and archives. The exhibition is dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Central Election Commission. Read more about the project in the material.
Documents from different eras, some of which are exhibited for the first time, historical paintings, modern technologies and even porcelain figurines — the exhibition at the Historical Museum is surprisingly visual and fascinating. Talking about the most complex historical vicissitudes, showing documents and monuments is the credo of the museum on Red Square. This time the initiative came from the Central Election Commission, which proposed making a project about the history of democracy and the electoral system of Russia. 
“This is a very urgent task. All the time our country is presented as a model of despotism and totalitarianism, although this was not the case. In the history of our country there were striking events of the expression of the people’s will. I’m not talking about Pskov, which in principle was a republic, the Vyatka land is actually a republic «. Yes, there was a rather narrow circle of Novgorod boyars, but all the same, these were chosen people. We are a unique country. I think that there is not a single country in the world that elected its autocrats three times: these are Boris Godunov, Vasily Shuisky and the Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov,” noted the director of the Historical Museum, Alexey Levykin, in an interview.
The curators worked on the exhibition in an extremely short time frame: in just six months they managed to collect interesting historical documents, paintings from different eras, and even objects that are relevant to today. 
«We tried to trace the entire history of the development of democracy and the electoral process through an interdisciplinary approach: these are archival documents, objects of art, and artifacts. All this creates an atmosphere of perception of each historical period, starting from 862: veche, zemsky councils, noble democracy, the first the State Duma, the constituent assembly, Soviet elections and, of course, elections in the new Russia. This is the focus of the last hall of our exhibition, where the latest technologies used by the electoral system of the Russian Federation are presented. Including a unique exhibit that many Muscovites encountered for the first time two weeks ago in the election of the mayor of the capital, this is an electronic voting terminal,” said Pavel Andreev, a member of the Central Election Commission and one of the project participants, at the opening of the exhibition.
The exhibition is divided into six main sections — from the early feudal Russian state to modern times. At the same time, surprisingly, some documents that are exhibited for the first time relate specifically to the recent past.
“Unlike medieval documents, which are published and well known, modern documents are no less interesting: we know about their results from television news, but the documents can be seen up close for the first time,” emphasized the scientific consultant of the exhibition, Alexey Litvin. 
According to him, one of the main difficulties of displaying archival papers is their volume. Multi-page documents are opened on one spread, which is why the exhibits are accompanied by detailed descriptions. Modern technologies will also help you navigate the materials — a documentary film is shown on the monitors in each section of the exhibition. Works of art allow you to feel the spirit of a particular era. As an example, the specialist cites several porcelain figurines: “Russian Jew”, “Polish peasant”, “Cossack”.
«This is a repetition of the porcelain presented by Emperor Frederick to Empress Catherine II. In addition to the dishes, the large service contained a number of figures of residents of divided Poland. This is an example of how through objects you can draw attention to historical processes and difficult problems that had to be solved,» – notes Alexey Litvin.
Another point to which he pays special attention is the period of Russian history from 1905 to 1991. 
“In less than 90 years, our country has traveled an incomparable path. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the electoral system was aimed at maximally excluding the presence of exploited classes in the State Duma. Seven years pass after the revolution, and the constitution forms a different electoral system, in according to which representatives of the exploiting classes are deprived of voting rights as much as possible. This can be seen from the documents presented at the exhibition. And then in 1936 they adopted a new constitution, in which everything is fair, but practice works differently. With 99% attendance at elections, they are secret, universal «, equal, but have no alternative. A big breakthrough occurs in 1988, when Gorbachev begins constitutional reform, and the last composition of the Supreme Council adopts laws on elections and on the Congress of People's Deputies. Alternativeity is introduced for the first time,» emphasizes Alexey Litvin.
The exhibition «The Right to Choose. A Brief History of Russian Democracy» will be open until October 31, it will be free for visitors.
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