State Duma

State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Государственная Дума Федерального Собрания Российской Федерации
Federal Assembly of Russia
Type
Type	Lower House of Federal Assembly of Russia
Leadership
Chairman of the State Duma	Boris Gryzlov, United Russia since 29 December 2003
Structure
Members	450
Political groups	United Russia (315) Communist Party of the Russian Federation (57) Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (40) Fair Russia (38)
Election
Voting system	Party-list proportional representation
Last election	2 December 2007
Meeting place
State Duma Building Manege Square Moscow, Russian Federation
Website
http://www.duma.ru

Russia

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The State Duma (Russian: Государственная дума (Gosudarstvennaya Duma), common abbreviation: Госдума (Gosduma)) in the Russian Federation is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia (legislature), the upper house being the Federation Council of Russia. The Duma is headquartered in central Moscow, a few steps from Manege Square. Its members are referred to as deputies. The State Duma replaced the Supreme Soviet as a result of the new constitution introduced by Boris Yeltsin in the aftermath of the Russian constitutional crisis of 1993, and approved by the Russian public in a referendum.

History

Emblem commemorating 100 years of State Duma in Russia

The State Duma was first introduced in 1906 and was Russia's first elected parliament. The first two attempts by Tsar Nicholas II were too radical and ineffective and were subsequently dissolved after only a few months each. After the 1907 electoral reform the third Duma, elected in November 1907, was largely made up of members of the upper classes and radical influences in the Duma had almost entirely been removed. The establishment of the Duma after the 1905 Revolution was to herald significant changes to the Russian autocratic system. Furthermore the Duma was later to have a larger effect on Russia as it was one of the contributing factors in the February Revolution, which led to the abolition of the autocracy in Russia.

In none of the Dumas elected in 1993, 1995 and 1999 was one party able to form a majority, so the chamber was mired in factional bickering and was unable to impose order on the work of its committees. Too many bills were introduced: less than half made it to the first reading. During most of the Yeltsin era the anti-Yeltsin camp was strong enough to block government legislative initiatives, while the pro-Yeltsin camp was fractured and lacked institutional ties to the executive branch.^[1] Less than half the bills passed originated as government proposals. Yeltsin vetoed twenty percent of all bills in 1996-1999, and in half the cases the veto was not overridden. The Russian public developed a strongly unfavorable image of the Duma. Meanwhile, Yeltsin continued to pursue his policies by decree – witness the privatization auctions and Chechnya invasion in 1994. Each year 1995-2001 the Duma refused to approve the budget in advance, so the government proceeded through sequestration.

The August 1998 financial crash was a major political blow for Yeltsin, and undermined the fortunes of many of the oligarchs who were an important pillar of support for the president.^[2] In the wake of the crisis Yeltsin was forced to dismiss Prime Minister Sergey Kirienko and reluctantly accepted Yevgeny Primakov as his replacement. Primakov, a former spy chief and foreign minister, was a candidate acceptable to the Communist-led Duma.^[3] This was perhaps the high point of parliamentary influence during the whole post-Soviet period. In spring 1999 the Federation Council refused to accept Yeltsin’s dismissal of Procurator Yuri Skuratov, who was investigating Boris Berezovsky, a leading oligarch and backer of Yeltsin. In May 1999 Yeltsin struck back by firing Primakov, who went on to lead an anti-Yeltsin coalition of regional bosses, the Fatherland-All Russia movement.

Powers

Boris Gryzlov, speaker of the Russian State Duma since December, 2003

The State Duma has special powers enumerated by the Constitution of Russia. They are:

• consent to the appointment of the Prime Minister of Russia;
• hearing annual reports from the Government of the Russian Federation on the results of its work, including on issues raised by the State Duma;
• deciding the issue of confidence in the Government of the Russian Federation;
• appointment and dismissal of the Chairman of the Central Bank of Russia;
• appointment and dismissal of the Chairman and half of the auditors of the Accounts Chamber;
• appointment and dismissal of the Commissioner for Human Rights, who shall act according to federal constitutional law;
• announcement of amnesty;
• bringing charges against the President of the Russian Federation for his impeachment (requires a two thirds majority);

The State Duma adopts decrees on issues referred to its authority by the Constitution of the Russian Federation. Decrees of the State Duma are adopted by a majority of the total number of deputies of the State Duma, unless another procedure is envisaged by the Constitution.

All bills are first approved by the State Duma and are further debated and approved (or rejected) by the Federation Council.

Additionally, there are constitutionally 450 deputies of the State Duma (Article 95), each elected to a term of four years (Article 96; since 2011, for five). Russian citizens at least 21 years old are eligible to run for the Duma (Article 97). Seats are awarded on the basis of the percentage of election votes won by a party. The party then elects candidates to fill its eligible seats.

The current speaker of the State Duma is Boris Gryzlov since December 29, 2003.

Speakers of the State Duma

• Ivan Rybkin (Agrarian Party of Russia) January 14, 1994 - January 17, 1996
• Gennady Seleznyov (Communist Party of the Russian Federation) January 17, 1996 - December 29, 2003
• Boris Gryzlov (United Russia) December 29, 2003–Present

Latest election

Current composition

Presidential Envoys to the State Duma

• Alexander Yakovlev (February 18, 1994, – February 10, 1996)
• Alexander Kotenkov (February 10, 1996, – April 5, 2004)
• Alexander Kosopkin (since April 5, 2004)

References

External links

• (Russian) Official site