Russian legislative election, 1995

Russian legislative election, 1995

1993 ←
December 17, 1995
→ 1999

All 450 seats to the State Duma
226 seats needed for a majority
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Gennady Zyuganov Vladimir Zhirinovsky
Party Communist Liberal Democratic
Last election 42 64
Seats won 157 51
Seat change +115 -13
Popular vote 15,432,963 7,737,431
Percentage 22.30% 11.18%
Swing +9.9% -11.74%

  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Viktor Chernomyrdin Grigory Yavlinsky
Party Our Home – Russia Yabloko
Last election - 27
Seats won 55 45
Seat change +55 +18
Popular vote 7,009,291 4,767,384
Percentage 10.13% 6.89%
Swing - -0.97%

Legislative elections were held in the Russian Federation on December 17, 1995. At stake were the 450 seats in the State Duma (Gosudarstvennaya Duma), the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia (The legislature).

The election law adopted for the 1995 election was similar to that adopted for the 1993 election, with some minor modifications. First, to secure a place on the proportional representation ballot, parties had to have registered with the Ministry of Justice no later than six months before the election, and the number of signatures they had to gather rose from 100,000 to 200,000. Second, invalid votes were now included in the calculation of the 5.0 percent threshold. Third, on the single-member district ballot, party endorsements of candidates were indicated.

Contents

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Outcome and aftermath

Out of the forty three parties and coalitions contesting the elections, only four cleared the 5% threshold to qualify for the proportional seats.

Pro-Government parties

Our Home Is Russia had weightier resources and soon acquired the nickname of “party of power” for its reliance on elite political and economic office holders. It was also referred to as “Our Home Is Gazprom” for its close ties to Gazprom’s substantial financial resources. Most of the cabinet ministers joined the bloc, and a number of business leaders and regional political elites affiliated with it. However, almost no other parties entered it, and many SMD candidates who had initially affiliated with the party soon left it. One of the early parties to enter the bloc, Sergei Shakhrai’s Party of Russian Unity and Concord, also deserted it in August.[1] In the election, theOur Home Is Russia bloc took 10.1% of the vote, enough to form a faction in the Duma but not enough to serve as a dominant or pivotal force in parliament or in the regions. At its peak, the party claimed the membership of around one third of Russia’s governors. However, both the center and regional elites made only ephemeral commitments to Our Home is Russia.[2]

Opposition parties

As a result of these elections, the Communists and their satellites, the Agrarians and other left-wing deputies, controlled a little less than the half of the seats. The populist LDPR occasionally sided with the left majority, but often supported the government. As in the previous Duma, the parliamentary groups of independent deputies had a significant influence on the balance of power in the parliament.

On January 17, 1996 a Communist Gennady Seleznyov was elected the Speaker of the Duma.

Results

e • d Summary of the December 17, 1995 Russian Duma election results[1] [2]
Parties and coalitions Party list
Votes  % List seats Single seats Total seats +/-
Communist Party of the Russian Federation 15,432,963 22.30 99 58 157 +115
Liberal Democratic Party of Russia 7,737,431 11.18 50 1 51 -13
Our Home - Russia 7,009,291 10.13 45 10 55 +55
Yabloko 4,767,384 6.89 31 14 45 +18
Russia's Women 3,188,813 4.61 0 3 3 -18
Communists-Labour Russia-For the Soviet Union 3,137,406 4.53 0 1 1 +1
Congress of Russian Communities 2,980,137 4.31 0 5 5 +5
Party for the Workers' Autonomy 2,756,954 3.98 0 1 1 +1
Democratic Choice of Russia-United Democrats 2,674,084 3.86 0 9 9 -55
Agrarian Party of Russia 2,613,127 3.78 0 20 20 -17
Strong State (Derzhava) 1,781,233 2.57 0 0 0 -
Forward, Russia! 1,343,428 1.94 0 3 3 +3
Power to the People! (Vlast'-narodu!) 1,112,873 1.61 0 9 9 +9
Pamfilova-Gurov-Vladimir Lysenko 1,106,812 1.60 0 2 2 +2
Trade Unions and Industrialists of Russia - Union of Labor 1,076,072 1.55 0 1 1 +1
Ecological Movement "Cedar" 962,195 1.39 0 0 0 -
Ivan Rybkin Bloc 769,259 1.11 0 3 3 +3
Stanislav Govorukhin Bloc 688,496 0.99 0 1 1 +1
My Fatherland 496,276 0.72 0 1 1 +1
Common Cause (Obshchee Delo) 472,615 0.68 0 1 1 +1
Beer Lovers' Party 428,727 0.62 0 0 0 -
Islamic Movement "Nur" 393,513 0.57 0 0 0 -
Transfiguration of the Fatherland 339,654 0.49 0 1 1 -
National Republican Party of Russia 331,700 0.48 0 0 0 -1
Juna Davitashvili Bloc 323,232 0.47 0 0 0 -
Party of the Russian Unity and Concord 245,977 0.36 0 1 1 -21
Association of Lawyers 242,966 0.35 0 0 0 -
For the Motherland! 194,254 0.28 0 0 0 -
Christian Democratic Union - The Christians of Russia 191,446 0.28 0 0 0 -1
"The Work of Peter I" 145,704 0.21 0 0 0 -
Union of the People 130,728 0.19 0 0 0 -
Tikhonov-Tupolev-Tikhonov 102,039 0.15 0 0 0 -
Union of Apartment Managements Workers 97,274 0.14 0 0 0 -
Social Democrats 88,642 0.13 0 0 0 -
Party of Economic Freedom 88,416 0.13 0 0 0 -1
Russian All-People's Movement 86,422 0.13 0 0 0 -
Bloc of Independents 83,742 0.12 0 1 1 +1
Federalist Democratic Movement 82,948 0.12 0 0 0 -
Stable Russia 81,285 0.12 0 0 0 -
Duma-96 55,897 0.08 0 0 0 -
Borderline Generation 44,202 0.06 0 0 0 -
89 Regions of Russia 40,840 0.06 0 1 1 +1
International Union 39,592 0.06 0 0 0 -
Independents (self-nomination) 77 77
Against All 1,918,151 2.77
Total (turnout 64.76%) 69,614,693   225 225 450
Registered voters 107,496,856 100.00

2nd Russian Duma by Parliamentary Group

Parliamentary group Leader Seats (Jan.'96)[3]
Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov 139
Our Home - Russia Sergei Belyaev 65
Liberal Democratic Party of Russia Vladimir Zhirinovsky 49
Yabloko Grigory Yavlinsky 45
"Regions of Russia (Independent Deputies)" Oleg Morozov 44
People's Power Nikolai Ryzhkov 41
Agrarian Group Nikolay Kharitonov 35
Democratic Choice of Russia (unregistered) Sergey Yushenkov 6
Independents 19
Total 450

References

  1. ^ Belin&Orttung 1997, pp. 34-36
  2. ^ Hale, 2006, pp. 208-209; McFaul, 2001, p. 205

[4]