The Russian Federation is holding its next parliamentary election on December 2, 2007. What are the new election laws, and which parties are eligible to participate?

Parliamentary elections will be held in the Russian Federation on December 2, 2007. At stake are 450 seats in the State Duma, the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia.

New Russian Election Laws

During his present term in office, President Vladimir Putin has initiated several changes to Russia’s election laws. These changes will be in effect for the 2007 election:

• Seats in the Duma will be assigned exclusively from party-list proportional representation. Voters either vote directly for a party, or for specific candidates whose votes pool to their respective parties. Prior to 2005, half the seats were filled using proportional representation, and the other half using a plurality voting system.
• The 225 single-member districts have been abolished.
• The threshold for a party’s eligibility to win seats has been raised from 5% to 7% of counted votes. Parties in the Duma must represent at least 60% of the participating citizens.
• Only officially registered parties may compete in the election, and are prohibited from forming blocs to improve their chances of clearing the seven percent threshold.

Eligible Parties for Russian Elections

On October 17, 2007, Russia’s Central Election Committee stopped accepting registration documents for the election. The Committee has announced the following 15 political parties as registered, and therefore eligible to participate in the election:

• Democratic Party of Russia
• United Russia
• Peace and Unity
• Communist Party of the Russian Federation
• Union of Right Forces
• Liberal Democratic Party of Russia
• Russian Incorporated Democratic Party “Apple”
• 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: The Native Land/Pensioners/Life

To participate in the election, parties not currently represented in parliament must prove their trustworthiness by either gathering a minimum of 200,000 signatures from potential voters, or paying a bail of approximately $2.5 million. On October 28, the Committee will announce which parties will officially take part in the election.

Latest Election Poll Results

The latest poll results from the Russian Public Opinion Search Centre indicate that if the election was held this week, only two parties would garner enough votes to earn seats in the Duma. United Russia received 45% of the poll votes, and the Communist Party 8%.

Putin’s Bid to Remain in Power

Putin’s bid to maintain power apparently began several years ago when he altered the election laws. By changing the laws, Putin has made it much more difficult for opposing political parties to participate in elections. Also, as seen in the latest poll results, increasing the vote threshold to 7% has eliminated most of his competition.

In September 2007, Putin dissolved the Russian government and named Viktor Zubkov as Russia’s new Prime Minister. Many experts view this as an opportunity for Putin to back Zubkov in the March 2008 presidential election, wield power from behind the scenes for four years, and then return to the presidency in 2012.

Putin’s latest move was his October 2007 announcement that he will head Russia’s most popular party, United Russia, in the upcoming election. With United Russia easily leading the election polls, Putin is now in position to become the country’s next Prime Minister, allowing him to maintain power after he leaves the Presidency in March 2008.

There seems to be little mystery regarding the outcome of the December election. The only question is whether Putin will indeed become the next Prime Minister and maintain power through a hand-picked presidential successor.

2007 Election Results

References

14 parties join Russian Parliamentary race. Russia Today. October 18, 2007.

Election poll: centrists and communists lead. Russia Today. September 15, 2007.

Federal Registration Service

IFES Election Guide - Russia.

Oxford Analytica. “RUSSIA: Ruling party holds unassailable lead for year-end elections.“ International Herald Tribune. January 31, 2007.

Political parties participation in federal elections. Central Election Committee of the Russian Federation Official Website.