The article reveals trends in electoral processes in Russia at the federal and regional levels as a result of electoral system reform in 2007–2012. The reforms brought politically significant innovations: strengthening electoral qualifications, transition from first-past-the- post voting to a proportional representation system in the election for the RF State Duma and the mixed system of regional legislative elections, the elimination of «none-of- the-above» voting and voters turnout. The political effects of the electoral system (the dominance of ‘cartel parties’, the absorption of regional parties by all-Russia national parties) are identified, its impact on the electoral behavior such as the predominance of pragmatic positions of the ruling elites, the crisis of opposition parties, strengthening monologue of political communication between the authorities and society are determined. External macro- policy factors influencing electoral system development such as economic development of society, the degree of elites integration and the independence of the media are pointed out.