Russian legislative elections of 1993, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, and 2011

Russian legislative elections of 1993, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, and 2011

By: Benedict S. Gombocz

Russian legislative election, 1993 Held in Russia on 12 December 1993;

included last elections to Federation Council of Russia.

Took place in aftermath of 1993 Russian constitutional crisis, a violent confrontation on the streets of Moscow resulting in dissolvement of State Duma by military force.

President Boris Yeltsin hoped to resolve political turmoil by decreeing for election to new Russian parliament and constitutional referendum to be held 12 December 1993.

New election law adopted for 1993 State Duma election arranged half of the 450 State Duma members to be elected with party-list system of proportional representation; half were elected as individual representatives from single-member districts.

Russian legislative election, 1993 – Results (State Duma) PR

Party: Liberal Democratic Party

Votes: 12,318,562%: 22.9Seats: 59

Party: Russia’s ChoiceVotes: 8,339,345%: 15.5Seats: 40

ConstituencyParty: Liberal Democratic

PartyVotes: 1,577,400%: 3.0Seats: 11Total seats: 70

Party: Russia’s ChoiceVotes: 3,630,799%: 6.8Seats: 56Total seats: 96

Russian legislative election, 1995 Held in Russia on 17 December 1995. At stake were 450 seats in State Duma

(Госуда́Aрственна́я дуAма́, Gosudarstvennaya Duma).

Election law adopted for 1995 election resembled that adopted for 1993 election, with a few minor modifications.

1). To win a place on proportional representation ballot, parties had to have been registered with Ministry of Justice no later than six months preceding the election; number of signatories needed to gather increased from 100,000 to 200,000.

2). Invalid votes were newly included in calculation of 5.0 percent threshold.

3). On single-member district ballot, party backing of candidates was revealed.

Russian legislative election, 1995 – Results PR

Party: Communist Party

Votes: 15,432,963 %: 22.30 Seats: 99


Votes: 7,737,431 %: 11.18 Seats: 50

Constituency Party: Communist Party Votes: 8,636,392 %: 12.78 Seats: 58 Total seats: 157 +/-: +92


Votes: 3,801,971 %: 5.63 Seats: 1 Total seats: 51 +/-: -19

Russian legislative election, 1995 – Results - cont. PR

Party: Our Home – Russia

Votes: 7,009,291%: 10.13 Seats: 45

Party: YablokoVotes: 4,767,384%: 6.89Seats: 31

ConstituencyParty: Our Home –

Russia Votes: 3,808,745%: 5.64Seats: 10


Russian legislative election, 1999 Held in Russia on 19 December

1999. At stake were 450 seats in State

Duma. According to 1993 electoral law,

225 members of the house were distributed proportionally with statewide party lists, where as 225 members were elected in single-member constituencies with use of first past the post system.

As in the 1995 election, this system resulted in large number of parties who engaged in trying to win proportional seats, and a significant number of elected independent deputies.



Votes: 16,196,024%: 24.29Seats: 67

Party: UnityVotes: 15,549,182%: 23.32Seats: 64

ConstituencyParty: Communist PartyVotes: 8,893,547%: 13.73Seats: 46Total seats: 113+/-: -44

Party: UnityVotes: 1,408,801%: 2.17Seats: 9Total seats:73+/-: New party

Russian legislative election, 1999 – Results – cont. PR

Party: Fatherland – All Russia

Votes: 8,886,753 %: 13.33 Seats: 37

Party: Union of Right Forces

Votes: 5,677,247 %: 8.52 Seats: 24

Constituency Party: Fatherland – All

Russia Votes: 5,469,389 %: 8.43 Seats: 31 Total seats: 68 +/-: New party

Party: Union of Right Forces Votes: 2,016,294 %: 3.11 Seats: 5 Total seats: 29 +/-: New party


Party: Zhirinovsky Bloc

Votes: 3,990,038%: 5.98Seats: 17


ConstituencyParty: Zhirinovsky BlocVotes: 1,026,690%: 1.58Seats: 0Total seats: 17+/-: -34

Party: YablokoVotes: 3,289,760%: 5.07Seats: 4Total seats: 20+/-: -25

Russian legislative election, 2003 Held in Russia on 7 December

2003. At stake were 450 seats in State

Duma. As anticipated, pro-Vladimir Putin

United Russia won largest number of votes and seats.

Of the other three parties, Communist Party is still largest, although its strength was reduced; Liberal Democratic Party improved its position with but a few delegates.

Liberal Yabloko and liberal-conservative Union of Right Forces lost majority of seats; only other significant party was Rodina.


Party: United RussiaVotes: 22,776,294%: 37.6Seats: 120


Votes: 7,647,820%: 12.6Seats: 40

ConstituencyParty: United RussiaVotes: 14,123,625%: 23.9Seats: 103Total seats: 223+/-: New party

Party: Communist PartyVotes: 6,577,598%: 11.2Seats: 12Total seats: 0+/-: -61


Party: Zhirinovsky Bloc

Votes: 6,944,322%: 11.5Seats: 36

Party: RodinaVotes: 5,470,429%: 9.0Seats: 29

ConstituencyParty: Zhirinovsky BlocVotes: 1,860,905%: 3.2Seats: 0Total seats: 36+/-: +19

Party: RodinaVotes: 1,719,147%: 2.9Seats: 8Total seats: 37+/-: New party

Russian legislative election, 2007 Held in Russian Federation on 2 December

2007. At stake were 450 seats in State Duma. Eleven parties, including largest party

United Russia (supported by President Vladimir Putin), were on the ballot.

Official results concluded that United Russia won 64.3% of the votes; Communist Party of the Russian Federation 11.6%; Liberal Democratic Party of Russia 8.1%; Fair Russia 7.7%.

None of the other parties gained enough votes to win any seats.

Even though 400 foreign election monitors were present at the polling stations, the elections were met with mix ed criticism internationally, largely from Western countries, and by some independent media and some opposition parties domestically; the observers said that the elections were not rigged but that media coverage still favored United Russia.

Summary of 2 December 2007 Russian Duma election results Votes

Party: United Russia#: 44,714,241%: 64.30 +/- pp swing: +26.73

Party: Communist Party of the Russian Federation

#: 8,046,886%: 11.57+/- pp swing: -1.04

MPsParty: United Russia#: 315+/-: +92%: 70,0

Party: Communist Party of the Russian Federation

#: 57+/-: +5%: 12,7

Summary of 2 December 2007 Russian Duma election results – cont. Votes

Party: Liberal Democratic Party of Russia

#: 5,660,823%: 8.14+/- pp swing: 3.31

Party: A Just Russia#: 5,383,639%: 7.74+/- pp swing: 7.74

MPsParty: Liberal

Democratic Party of Russia

#: 40+/-: +4%: 8,9

Party: A Just Russia#: 38+/-: +1%: 8,4

Russian legislative election, 2011 Held in Russia on 4 December 2011. At stake were 450 seats in State Duma. United Russia won elections with 49.32% of

vote, and took 238 seats or 52.88% of the Duma seats; this result was down from 64.30% of the vote and 70% of seats in 2007 elections.

Communist Party of the Russian Federation gained 19.19% of votes and 92 seats; A Just Russia gained 13.24% and 64 seats, and the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia got 56 seats and 11.67% of vote.

Yabloko, Patriots of Russia, and Right Cause failed to cross 7% election threshold; list of State Duma represented parties did not change.

United Russia lost two-thirds constitutional majority it boasted prior to election, but still won absolute majority of seats in Duma, though with less than 50% of popular vote; in turn Communist Party, Liberal Democratic Party, and A Just Russia all won new seats in comparison to last election.

Summary of 4 December 2011 State Duma election results Seat composition

Party: United Russia Seats: 238 +/-: -77 %: 52.88% Popular vote: 32,379,135 %: 49.32% +/- pp swing: -14.98%

Party: Communist Party Seats: 92 +/-: +35 %: 20.46% Popular vote: 12,599,507 %: 19.19% +/- pp swing: +7.62%

Summary of 4 December 2011 State Duma election results – cont. Party: A Just Russia Seats: 64 +/-: +26 %: 14.21% Popular vote: 8,695,522 %: 13.24% +/- pp swing: +5.50%

Party: Liberal Democratic Party Seats: 56 +/-: +16 %: 12.45% Popular vote: 7,664,570 %: 11.67% +/- pp swing: +3.53%

Russian legislative elections of 1993, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, and 2011

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Transcript of Russian legislative elections of 1993, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, and 2011