a territorial electoral unit formed for carrying out elections to representational state bodies in accordance with the rules established by law. An electoral district in the USSR is established on the basis of equal population or on the principle of the equal representation of nationalities and peoples who have a territorial state formation named after them. For example, in the elections to the Soviet of Nationalities of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, each Union republic, regardless of the size of its population, nominates 32 deputies. One deputy is elected from each district, in accordance with the established standard of representation. Such a principle ensures the realization of equal electoral rights and guarantees the participation of all voters in the elections on an equal basis.

In bourgeois states, electoral districts are not infrequently formed by a process known as gerrymandering, which violates the principle of equal population by decreasing the number of deputies from districts where working people are in the majority.