Legislative authorities in the Russian Federation are represented by the two-chamber Parliament called Federal Assembly of Russian Federation. The upper chamber is called Council of Federation and the lower chamber is called the State Duma. Before Vladimir Putin’s reforms of reinforcement of the ‘vertical of authorities’ (improving communication and hierarchy between authorities at local, regional and federal levels), the upper chamber consisted of the heads of the regional legislative and executive authorities. Presently the upper chamber consists of the representatives of the regions.
The lower chamber called Duma consists of 450 elected deputies, including 225 elected through the majority vote (competition among candidates) and another 225 elected through the proportional vote (competition among parties; the top members of the winning party become deputies).
For members of the party to become Duma deputies, the parties should win no less than 5% of voters support. The parties supported by less than 5% of voters do not have the right for proportional nomination of their members to the Duma.
Unlike Great Britain, USA or other countries with long history of democracy, there are many parties on the political arena of Russia. They include the pro-government party supporting acting authorities (Edinaya Rossia (United Russia)), democratic parties struggling for continuation of the democratic reforms (Union of the Right (Soyuz Pravyh Sil or SPS) and Yabloko) the popularity of which in the society decreases, the Communist Party with a quite stable electorate consisting mostly of elderly people, and a variety of other parties with quite different positions. Perhaps the most well known of the latter is the Liberal Democratic Party.
On December 7, 2003 the fourth State Duma elections in the democratic history of Russia took place. Some experts say that the result was predictable while the others think it was surprising. The biggest surprise was possibly the failure of the democratic parties like the Union of the Right (Soyuz Pravyh Sil or SPS) and Yabloko. Their ideological competitors — the Communist Party — has won less votes than it won in 1999 Duma elections. In 1999 it won about 24,29% of votes and in December 2003 about a half of this figure.
According to the official statistics of the Central Electoral Commission, 60,712,299 people (55,75% of the voters) took part in the elections. The leader of the elections was Edinaya Rossia (United Russia) party that gained 37,57% of votes and was supported by 22,779,279 people. The party is considered to be pro-government so many argue that the new Duma does not make a real balance with the government.
Communist Party of Russia has won 7,647,820 votes which accounts for about 12,61%. The Liberal Democratic Party of Russia headed by its eccentric leader Vladimir Zhirimovsky enjoyed the support of 6,943,885 citizens (about 11,45% of votes). The last party in the list of those that have overcome the 5% barrier is Rodina (Homeland) coalition. It was supported by 5,469 (9,02%) voters.
The list of outsiders that did not pass through to the Duma is headed by the democratic Yabloko party (2,609,823 or 4,3 % of voters). Soyuz Pravyh Sil (SPS) has won 3,97% of the votes and the Agrarian party of Russia — about 3,64% votes. The head of the Central Electoral Commission Alexander Veshnyakov announced that the losing parties will receive some supportive funding from the government.
For liberal parties, the results of the elections were the most disappointing. It was the first time no democratic party surpassed the 5% barrier. In 1993 and 1999 Yabloko and right-wing liberals have won seats in the Duma and in 1995 only Yabloko succeeded. There was a failure not only in the proportional, but in the majority system as well. The reasons possibly include internal struggle in the democratic camp, weak regional branches and their inability to lead tough struggle before elections, the lack of clarity in the election campaign and failure to focus on the certain groups of electorate.
The elections clearly showed the degree of dissatisfaction in the western democracy, writes Daily Telegraph. The winner is pro-presidential party, while the two main pro-western parties are off the board. Edinaya Rossia is dominating in the new Duma and theoretically it makes possible for the President to introduce changes to the Constitution.
The win of Edinaya Rossia on December 7 was predictable, say experts, but nobody expected it would gain so much support. Its success largely reflects and follows the rating of the President Putin. That is why these elections are called the ‘repetition’ of the Presidential elections to be conducted in March 2004. Nevertheless, the result is that pro-governmental Edinaya Rossia has won the majority of seats in the Duma.
In response to this, the Communist Party declared it does not consider the Parliament to be legitimate. They have made the parallel count of votes and directed it to the Central Electoral Commission that considered them non-objective and pro-party.
On the first session of the new Duma the temporary commission on the regulations announced that there would be 4 fractions. It was officially announced that Edinaya Rossia has won constitutional majority. With the candidates elected through the majority system, the number of the party supporters in the Duma reached 300.
Communistic group headed by Gennady Zyuganov consists of 52 deputies. Liberal Democratic group headed by Igor Lebedev consists of 36 deputies. The same number supports the Rodina fraction headed by Sergey Glaziev. 23 deputies positioned themselves as independent.
Former Home Minister Boris Gryzlov was elected the speaker of the Duma. He was supported by 352 deputies including the ones from Edinaya Rossia and other groups while only 14 were against.
In their reports, international observers like OBSE and PACE have said that “the State Duma elections of December 7, 2003 failed to comply with many obligations taken on by the country members of OBSE and the Council of Europe in regards with the democratic elections”. In a press conference, David Atkinson, the head of the parliamentary delegation of the Council of Europe, said: “The real political competition before the elections and the real choice for the voters are compulsory conditions for truly democratic elections”. Observers also pointed out a number of intolerable announcements from some parties and a decrease in the number of women participating in the elections.
According to some estimates, modern Russian society features strong nationalistic attitudes.
In the meantime, starting from the day of official publication of the election results, political parties can nominate their candidates for the Presidential elections that will take place in March 2004. Several candidates are already known. Read about Presidential election in the next articles on Russian Courier.

Evgeniya Stroganova