Russian legislative election, 2003

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Russia
Image:Coat of Arms of the Russian Federation.svg This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Russia

Constitution President: Vladimir Putin Prime Minister: Mikhail Fradkov Federal Assembly Federation Council Duma Judiciary (Russian Constitution) Constitutional Court Supreme Court Supreme Court of Arbitration Political parties Elections in Russia President: 2000 - 2004 - 2008 Parliamentary: 2003 - 2007 Subdivisions Federal subjects Human rights Foreign relations
Other countries • Politics Portal view • talk • edit</div>

Legislative elections were held in the Russian Federation on December 7 2003. At stake were the 450 seats in the State Duma (Gosudarstvennaya Duma), the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia (The legislature).

As expected, the United Russia pro-Vladimir Putin party won the largest number of votes and seats, reducing most other parties to minor status. Even the formal figure of 221 seats for United Russia is an underestimate, because most of the minor party and "independent" members are in fact clients or supporters of President Putin. The elections have thus given Putin complete control of the legislature.

Of the other parties, the Communist Party is still the largest, though much reduced in strength. Liberal Democratic Party improved its position by a few delegates. The liberal Yabloko party and the liberal-conservative SPS lost most of its seats. The only other significant party is socialist Homeland Union.

[edit] National summary of votes and seats

[discuss] – [edit]
Summary of the 7 December 2003 Russian Duma **election results**
-	Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (Liberal’no-Demokraticheskaya partiya Rossii , Либерально-демократическая партия России)		6,923,444	11.7	37
Coalition (Rodina):	Party of Russian Regions (Partiya rossiyskih regionov , Партия российских регионов )	5,443,053	9.2	37
	Party of National Revival "Narodnaya Volya" (Partiya nacionalnogo vozrozhdenia "Narodnaya Volya", Партия национального возрождения "Народная воля")
	United Socialist Party of Russia (Socialisticheskaya edinaya partiya Rossii, Социалистическая единая партия России)
Russian Democratic Party "Yabloko" (Rossiyskaya demokraticheskaya Partiya "Yabloko", Российская демократическая партия "Яблоко")		2,601,549	4.4	4
Union of Right Forces (Soyuz pravykh sil, Союз Правых Сил)		2,390,868	4.0	3
Agrarian Party of Russia (Agrarnaya partiya Rossii, Аграрная партия России)		2,201,806	3.7	3
Coalition:	Russian Pensioners' Party (Rossiyskaya partiya pensionerov, Российская партия пенсионеров)	1,869,729	3.1	1
Coalition:	Party of Social Justice (Partiya social'noy spravedlivosti, Партия социальной справедливости)	1,869,729	3.1	1
Coalition:	Party of Russia's Rebirth (Partiya vozrozhdeniya Rossii, Партия возрождения России)	1,137,193	1.9	3
Coalition:	Russian Party of Life (Rossiyskaya partiya zhizni, Российская партия жизни)	1,137,193	1.9	3
People's Party of the Russian Federation (Narodnaya partiya Rossiyskoy Federatsii, Народная партия Росссийской Федерации)		707,434	1.2	16
Unity (Yedineniye, Единение)			1.2
Others and non-partisans			.	74
Total (turnout 54.7 %)		59,297,970		450
Registered voters		108,404,870
Source: These figures are from the Russian Election Commission and appear to be the final data.

Of 450 seats, 225 were to be filled through voting for parties and 225 through voting for individual candidates. Only four parties were able to surpass the 5% threshold required to get party seats:<ref>Протокол Центральной избирательной комиссии Российской Федерации о результатах выборов по федеральному избирательному округу и о распределении депутатских мандатов между политическими партиями, избирательными блоками (Russian)</ref>

Party	Seats
United Russia	120
Communist Party of the Russian Federation	40
Liberal Democratic Party of Russia	36
Rodina	29
Total	225

Image:Russian legislative election 2003.png Another 225 seats were filled by voting for individual candidates in 225 constituencies using the first past the post system.<ref>Сведения о зарегистрированных депутатах ГД ФС РФ четвертого созыва по одномандатным избирательным округам (Russian)</ref>

Party	Seats
United Russia	103
People's Party of the Russian Federation	17
Communist Party of the Russian Federation	12
Rodina	8
Yabloko	4
Party of Russia's Rebirth Russian Party of Life	3
Union of Right Forces	3
Agrarian Party of Russia	2
Great Russia - Eurasian Union	1
New Deal - Automobile Russia	1
Business Development Party	1
Self-nominations	67
Seat not filled	3
Total	225