RUSSIAN LEGISLATIVE ELECTION, 2007

Contents

Background

Eligible parties

Pro-Kremlin Parties

Opposition Parties

References

Background

'Legislative elections' will be held in the Russian Federation on December 2 2007^[1]. At stake are the 450 seats in the State Duma (Gosudarstvennaya Duma), the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia (The legislature).
The 2007 election will be assigned exclusively from party-list proportional representation under a law adopted in 2005 on the initiative of President Vladimir Putin. He claimed it would strengthen the party system by reducing the number of parties in the Duma. In the previous elections half of the seats were filled using proportional representation and another half using the first-past-the-post system.
As of 2007, the 225 single-member districts are abolished. In the election of 2003, 100 of these seats were won by independents or minor party candidates. All seats will be awarded by proportional representation. The threshold for eligibility to win seats has been raised from 5.0 to 7.0 percent. In 2003 four parties each exceeded 7.0 percent of the list vote and collectively won 70.7 percent of the total Duma vote.
Only officially registered parties may compete, and registered parties cannot form a bloc in order to improve their chances of clearing the 7.0 percent threshold, with the provision that parties in the Duma must represent at least 60% of the participating citizens.^[2]. Full list of registered parties. Duma seats are allocated to individuals on the lists of successful parties in accordance with their ranking there. Any members who resign from their party automatically forfeit their seats.
In Chechnya, a constitutional referendum will be held on the same date.

Eligible parties

15 parties are eligible to participate in the elections.^[3] These are:
#Democratic Party of Russia
#United Russia
#Peace and Unity
#Communist Party of the Russian Federation
#Union of Right Forces
#Liberal Democratic Party of Russia
#Yabloko
#Patriots of Russia
#Russian Ecological Party "Greens"
#Agrarian Party of Russia
#People's Union
#Citizens' Force
#Russian Social Justice Party
#Party of Russia's Rebirth
#Fair Russia

Pro-Kremlin Parties

A number of parties are expected to contest the election. The biggest and most popular party in Russia is United Russia, which supports the policies of Vladimir Putin. Other pro-Kremlin parties expected to cross the seven percent threshold include the new Fair Russia party led by Sergei Mironov, and the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, which has also been favourable towards President Putin's policies.

Opposition Parties

The largest opposition party is the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, which saw its share of the vote half between 1999 and 2003. The liberal democratic opposition will be represented by the free-market Union of Right Forces and the more socially minded Yabloko.

References

1. Election Guide
2. Towards the democratic formation of authorities Aleksandr Veshnyakov
3. List of parties meeting the requirements of clause 2, article 36 of the Federal Law "On Political Parties", as of 5 September 2007