Legislative election were held in Russia on 17 December 1995.[1] At stake were the 450 seats in the State Duma (Gosudarstvennaya Duma), the lower house of the Federal Assembly.
Electoral system
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.
Political blocs
| № | Bloc | Abbr. | First troika | Political position | Ideologies | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Women of Russia | ZhR | Alevtina Fedulova • Ekaterina Lakhova • Galina Klimantova | Centre | Women's rights / Pacifism | [2] | |
| 2 | Social Patriotic Movement «Derzhava» | Derzhava | Alexander Rutskoy • Viktor Kobelev • Konstantin Dushenov | Right-wing | Russian nationalism / Social conservatism | ||
| 3 | Social Political Movement «Duma-96» | Duma-96 | Vladimir Burenin • Mikhail Simonov • Georgy Kondratyev | Centre | Centrism / Conservatism | ||
| 4 | Transformation of the Fatherland | PO | Eduard Rossel • Yury Nozhikov • Viktor Yakimov | Centre | Regionalism / Autonomism | ||
| 5 | Tikhonov–Tupolev–Tikhonov | TTT | Alexander Tikhonov • Aleksey Tupolev • Viktor Tikhonov | Centre | Centrism | ||
| 6 | Russian All-People's Movement | ROD | Alexander Bozhenov • Valery Moshnyakov • Vladimir Platonov | Centre | Cossacks interests | ||
| 7 | All-Russian Muslim Social Movement "NUR" | NUR | Halit Yakhin • Vafa Yarullin • Anver Shagidullin | Centre | Muslim interests / Islamic democracy | ||
| 8 | Federal Democratic Movement | FDD | Oleg Novikov • Oleg Kalugin • Rimma Kazakova | Centre | Federalism | ||
| 9 | Cause of Peter the First | DPP | Valentin Dikul • Vadim Voevodin • Yan Koltunov | Right-wing | National conservatism / Monarchism | ||
| 10 | International Union | MNS | Abdulah Mikitaev • Makhmut Gareev • Alexander Zaytsev | Centre | Multiculturalism | ||
| 11 | Socio-Political Movement "Stable Russia" | SR | Oleg Petrov • Elina Bystritskaya • Alexander Gorlov | Centre-right | Conservatism | ||
| 12 | Frontier Generations | PR | Dmitry Solonnikov • Nikolay Pelepeshin • Marat Bariev | Centre | Youth politics | ||
| 13 | My Fatherland | MO | Boris Gromov • Stanislav Shatalin • Joseph Kobzon | Centre-left | Social democracy | ||
| 14 | For the Motherland! | ZR | Vladimir Polevanov • Yevgeny Podkolzin • Eduard Baltin | Right-wing | Conservatism / Anti-Reformism | ||
| 15 | Common Cause | OD | Irina Khakamada • Rolan Bykov • Vladimir Dzhanibekov | Centre-right | Liberalism | ||
| 16 | Bloc of Independents | BN | Yevgeny Fyodorov • Ilya Roitman • Vladimir Komchatov | Centre-right | Conservatism | ||
| 17 | Our Home – Russia | NDR | Viktor Chernomyrdin • Nikita Mikhalkov • Lev Rokhlin | Centre-right | Liberal conservatism / Fiscal conservatism | ||
| 18 | Pamfilova–Gurov–Lysenko | PGL | Ella Pamfilova • Alexander Gurov • Vladimir Lysenko | Centre-right | Classical liberalism / Atlanticism | ||
| 19 | Social Association «Yabloko» | Yabloko | Grigory Yavlinsky • Vladimir Lukin • Tatiana Yarygina | Centre-left | Social democracy / Social liberalism | ||
| 20 | Forward, Russia! | VR | Boris Fyodorov • Bela Denisenko • Alexander Vladislavlev | Centre-right | Liberal democracy / Liberal conservatism | ||
| 21 | 89 Regions of Russia | 89 | Pavel Medvedev (only elected deputy) | Centre | Regionalism | ||
| 22 | Ecological Party of Russia "KEDR" | KEDR | Anatoly Panfilov • Leonid Yakubovich • Artyom Tarasov | Centre | Green politics / Agrarianism | ||
| 23 | Democratic Choice of Russia – United Democrats | DVR-OD | Yegor Gaidar • Sergei Kovalev • Lidiya Fedoseyeva-Shukshina | Centre-right | Liberal conservatism / Anti-communism | ||
| 24 | Party of Russian Unity and Accord | PRES | Sergey Shakhray • Valery Bykov • Vladimir Ivankov | Centre-right | Moderate liberalism / Conservatism / Regionalism | ||
| 25 | Communist Party of the Russian Federation | CPRF | Gennady Zyuganov • Svetlana Goryacheva • Aman Tuleyev | Left-wing to far-left | Communism / Marxism–Leninism / Left-wing nationalism | ||
| 26 | Stanislav Govorukhin Bloc | BSG | Stanislav Govorukhin • Oleg Rumyantsev • Viktor Aksyuchits | Right-wing | Statism / Conservatism | ||
| 27 | Association of Lawyers of Russia | AAR | Alexey Malayev • Gasan Mirzoyev • Anatoly Fedoseev | Centre | Rule of law | ||
| 28 | National Republican Party of Russia | NRPR | Nikolay Lysenko • Nikolay Pavlov • Konstantin Ovchinnikov | Far-right | Solzhenitsynism / Russian ultranationalism | ||
| 29 | Social Democrats | SD | Gavriil Popov • Vasily Lipitsky • Oleg Bogomolov | Centre-left | Social democracy | ||
| 30 | Power to the People! | VN | Nikolai Ryzhkov • Sergey Baburin • Elena Shuvalova | Right-wing | Patriotism / Social conservatism / Pochvennichestvo | ||
| 31 | Congress of Russian Communities | KRO | Yury Skokov • Alexander Lebed • Sergey Glazyev | Right-wing to far-right | Russian nationalism / National conservatism | ||
| 32 | Trade Unions and Industrialists – Union of Labour | ST | Vladimir Scherbakov • Mikhail Shmakov • Arkady Volsky | Centre-left | Labourism / Industrialism | ||
| 33 | Liberal Democratic Party of Russia | LDPR | Vladimir Zhirinovsky • Sergey Abeltsev • Alexander Vengerovsky | Right-wing to far-right | Right-wing populism / Pan-Slavism | ||
| 34 | Bloc of Djuna | Djuna | Eugenia Davitashvili • Andrey Volkov • Aleksandr Pankratov-Chyorny | Centre | Populism | ||
| 35 | Party of Workers' Self-Government | PST | Svyatoslav Fyodorov • Alexey Kazannik • Aleksandr Porokhovshchikov | Centre-left | Social democracy | ||
| 36 | Communists – Labour Russia – For the Soviet Union | KTR | Viktor Tyulkin • Anatoly Kryuchkov • Viktor Anpilov | Far-left | Communism / Marxism–Leninism / Anti-revisionism | ||
| 37 | Beer Lovers Party | PLP | Konstantin Kalachyov • Dmitry Shestakov • Andrey Palchevsky | Big tent | Joke party / Protectionism / Anti-establishment | ||
| 38 | Ivan Rybkin Bloc | BIR | Ivan Rybkin • Yury Petrov • Artur Chilingarov | Centre-left | Agrarianism / Social democracy | ||
| 39 | Party of Economic Freedom | PES | Konstantin Borovoi • Leonid Nekrasov • Vladimir Kovalyonok | Centre-right | Liberalism / Neoconservatism / Economic liberalism | ||
| 40 | People's Union | NS | Vladimir Lukyanov • Dmitry Galagan • Gennady Mironov | Big tent | Interests of defrauded depositors | ||
| 41 | Agrarian Party of Russia | APR | Mikhail Lapshin • Aleksandr Nazarchuk • Vasily Starodubtsev | Left-wing | Agrarian socialism / Collectivism | ||
| 42 | Christian Democratic Union – Christians of Russia | HDS | Vitaly Savitsky • Tatiana Ivanova • Alexander Kisilyov | Centre-right | Christian democracy | ||
| 43 | Union of Workers of Housing and Communal Services | SRZhKKh | Leonid Chernyshov • Pyotr Suvorov • Valery Avdeyev | Big tent | ZhKKh workers' interests | ||
Campaign
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 – 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 Accord, also deserted it in August.[3] The party program called for "stability and development, democracy and patriotism, confidence and order" as well as "pragmatism" and "a civilized market". Other proposals were contradictory as the party proposed, among other things, to encourage foreign investment while protecting Russian manufacturers, and to promote agricultural reform while regulating land ownership.
In the election, the Our Home Is Russia bloc took 10.1% of the vote, enough to form a faction in the State 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.[4][5]
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
| Party | Party-list | Constituency | Total seats | +/– | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | ||||
| Communist Party | 15,432,963 | 22.73 | 99 | 8,636,392 | 12.78 | 58 | 157 | +115 | |
| Liberal Democratic Party | 7,737,431 | 11.40 | 50 | 3,801,971 | 5.63 | 1 | 51 | –11 | |
| Our Home – Russia | 7,009,291 | 10.33 | 45 | 3,808,745 | 5.64 | 10 | 55 | New | |
| Yabloko | 4,767,384 | 7.02 | 31 | 2,209,945 | 3.27 | 14 | 45 | +18 | |
| Women of Russia | 3,188,813 | 4.70 | 0 | 712,072 | 1.05 | 3 | 3 | –21 | |
| Communists and Working Russia for the Soviet Union | 3,137,406 | 4.62 | 0 | 1,276,655 | 1.89 | 1 | 1 | New | |
| Congress of Russian Communities | 2,980,137 | 4.39 | 0 | 1,987,665 | 2.94 | 5 | 5 | New | |
| Party of Workers' Self-Government | 2,756,954 | 4.06 | 0 | 475,007 | 0.70 | 1 | 1 | New | |
| Democratic Choice of Russia – United Democrats | 2,674,084 | 3.94 | 0 | 1,819,330 | 2.69 | 9 | 9 | –53 | |
| Agrarian Party of Russia | 2,613,127 | 3.85 | 0 | 4,066,214 | 6.02 | 20 | 20 | –18 | |
| Derzhava | 1,781,233 | 2.62 | 0 | 420,860 | 0.62 | 0 | 0 | New | |
| Forward, Russia! | 1,343,428 | 1.98 | 0 | 1,054,577 | 1.56 | 3 | 3 | New | |
| Power to the People | 1,112,873 | 1.64 | 0 | 1,345,905 | 1.99 | 9 | 9 | New | |
| Pamfilova–Gurov–Lysenko | 1,106,812 | 1.63 | 0 | 476,721 | 0.71 | 2 | 2 | New | |
| Trade Unions and Industrialists – Union of Labour | 1,076,072 | 1.59 | 0 | 584,063 | 0.86 | 1 | 1 | New | |
| Environmental Party of Russia "Kedr" | 962,195 | 1.42 | 0 | 304,896 | 0.45 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Ivan Rybkin Bloc | 769,259 | 1.13 | 0 | 1,073,580 | 1.59 | 3 | 3 | New | |
| Stanislav Govorukhin Bloc | 688,496 | 1.01 | 0 | 483,281 | 0.72 | 1 | 1 | New | |
| My Fatherland | 496,276 | 0.73 | 0 | 351,911 | 0.52 | 1 | 1 | New | |
| Common Cause | 472,615 | 0.70 | 0 | 148,584 | 0.22 | 1 | 1 | New | |
| Beer Lovers Party | 428,727 | 0.63 | 0 | 57,946 | 0.09 | 0 | 0 | New | |
| All Russian Muslim Public Movement "Nur" | 393,513 | 0.58 | 0 | 49,689 | 0.07 | 0 | 0 | New | |
| Transformation of the Fatherland | 339,654 | 0.50 | 0 | 227,822 | 0.34 | 1 | 1 | New | |
| National Republican Party | 331,700 | 0.49 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Block of Djuna | 323,232 | 0.48 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Party of Russian Unity and Accord | 245,977 | 0.36 | 0 | 285,654 | 0.42 | 1 | 1 | –22 | |
| Russian Lawyers' Association | 242,966 | 0.36 | 0 | 96,046 | 0.14 | 0 | 0 | New | |
| For the Motherland! | 194,254 | 0.29 | 0 | 213,723 | 0.32 | 0 | 0 | New | |
| Christian-Democratic Union – Christians of Russia | 191,446 | 0.28 | 0 | 102,335 | 0.15 | 0 | 0 | New | |
| 38 Words Electoral Bloc | 145,704 | 0.21 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| People's Union | 130,728 | 0.19 | 0 | 70,685 | 0.10 | 0 | 0 | New | |
| Tikhonov–Tupolev–Tikhonov Bloc | 102,039 | 0.15 | 0 | 65,458 | 0.10 | 0 | 0 | New | |
| Russian Union of Workers of ZhKKh | 97,274 | 0.14 | 0 | 115,386 | 0.17 | 0 | 0 | New | |
| Social Democrats | 88,642 | 0.13 | 0 | 233,269 | 0.35 | 0 | 0 | New | |
| Party of Economic Freedom | 88,416 | 0.13 | 0 | 199,150 | 0.29 | 1 | 1 | New | |
| Russian All-People's Movement | 86,422 | 0.13 | 0 | 224,779 | 0.33 | 0 | 0 | New | |
| Bloc of Independents | 83,742 | 0.12 | 0 | 375,287 | 0.56 | 1 | 1 | New | |
| Federal Democratic Movement | 82,948 | 0.12 | 0 | 86,519 | 0.13 | 0 | 0 | New | |
| Sociopolitical Movement "Stable Russia" | 81,285 | 0.12 | 0 | 159,226 | 0.24 | 0 | 0 | New | |
| Duma-96 | 55,897 | 0.08 | 0 | 108,672 | 0.16 | 0 | 0 | New | |
| Frontier Generation | 44,202 | 0.07 | 0 | 13,429 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | New | |
| Bloc '89 | 40,840 | 0.06 | 0 | 175,459 | 0.26 | 1 | 1 | New | |
| Interethnic Union | 39,592 | 0.06 | 0 | 169,746 | 0.25 | 0 | 0 | New | |
| All-Russian Sociopolitical Movement of Transport Workers | 162,263 | 0.24 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Democratic Russia and Free Trade-Unions | 158,040 | 0.23 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Sociopolitical Movement "Education is Russia's Future" | 129,399 | 0.19 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Union of Patriots | 118,441 | 0.18 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Union of Russian Moslems | 65,688 | 0.10 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Party "Union of Communists" | 62,181 | 0.09 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Party of Supporters of Tax Reduction | 61,519 | 0.09 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Party "Democratic Alternative" | 61,252 | 0.09 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Conservative Party | 57,351 | 0.08 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Case of Peter the First | 51,928 | 0.08 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Russian Party | 43,221 | 0.06 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Union of Patriotic Orthodox Organisations | 42,269 | 0.06 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Party "Economic Alternative" | 37,622 | 0.06 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| We are Serving for Russia! | 35,535 | 0.05 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| League of Independent Scientists | 28,666 | 0.04 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| National-Republican Party of Russia | 27,197 | 0.04 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Social Alliance "Revival" | 27,032 | 0.04 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Russian Union of Local Self-Government | 21,427 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Our Future | 18,488 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Faith, Labour, Conscience | 14,639 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Russian Party of Car Owners | 8,088 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| People's Salvation Front | 1,881 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Workers' Collectives and Greens for the Union of Co-Owners | 1,442 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| European Liberal Democratic Party | 154 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Independents | 21,620,835 | 31.99 | 77 | 77 | –58 | ||||
| Against all | 1,918,151 | 2.83 | – | 6,660,495 | 9.85 | – | – | – | |
| Total | 67,884,200 | 100.00 | 225 | 67,585,707 | 100.00 | 225 | 450 | 0 | |
| Valid votes | 67,884,200 | 98.09 | 67,585,707 | 97.71 | |||||
| Invalid/blank votes | 1,320,619 | 1.91 | 1,582,227 | 2.29 | |||||
| Total votes | 69,204,819 | 100.00 | 69,167,934 | 100.00 | |||||
| Registered voters/turnout | 107,496,856 | 64.38 | 107,496,856 | 64.34 | |||||
| Source: University of Essex, Nohlen & Stöver | |||||||||
Parliamentary groups
| Parliamentary group | Leader | Seats (Jan.'96) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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
- ↑ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1642 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
- ↑ Данные протоколов территориальных избирательных комиссий об итогах голосования по федеральному округу
- ↑ Belin&Orttung 1997, pp. 34–36
- ↑ Hale, 2006, pp. 208–209
- ↑ McFaul, 2001, p. 205
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