2 сентября 2007 Года
September 2, 2007. VLADIMIR PUTIN SIGNS LAW ON UPCOMING PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
 President Vladimir Putin has signed into law the bill on upcoming State Duma elections, which are to take place on December 2nd of this year. The elections will determine the composition of the 5th State Duma, to be elected for a four-year term.
The current law stipulates rigid procedures for the registration of political parties prior to the elections. Among other documents, every party is required to report on the earnings and estates of each of its members. The final list of all parties that successfully cleared registration is expected to be available by the end of October. The official period of agitation (i.e. commercials) for political parties is to begin exactly 28 days before the elections and end at 0:00 on the day before voting starts.
Unlike previous Duma’s, the new one will be formed exclusively from party lists. Before, half of the Duma’s 450 seats were granted to political parties and half were elected from Russia’s regions (based on population). Political parties will also face a harder time getting into the State Duma: the minimum threshold for seats has been raised from 5 to 7% under new legislation.
***
The first State Duma of the Russian Federation was formed under former President Boris Yeltsin’s notorious Decree №1400, issued on September 21, 1993 during his conflict with the national parliament. The decree foresaw the disillusionment of the Congress of People’s Deputies, the first democratically-elected legislative assembly in Russia following the breakup of the U.S.S.R., and the election of the new State Duma to replace it on December 12, 1993. Despite the fact that Yeltsin’s conflict with the Congress ended in a bloody battle for the Russian White House in which hundreds of people were killed, the Duma elections took place as planned.
Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s ultra-right Liberal Democratic Party of Russia made a surprisingly strong showing in those elections, taking 22.92% of the overall vote. The first State Duma, however, only lasted two years. The next elections were scheduled for December 17, 1995 to directly precede the upcoming presidential race. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation was the clear favorite that year, taking 22.30% of the vote.
The next elections took place on December 29, 1999 and again favored the Communists, who gained 24.29% of the overall vote. However they were trailed closely by the newly-formed Unity Party (a predecessor to today’s United Russia party), which won 23.32% of the vote. Finally the last elections saw United Russia gain a clear advantage over other parties with 37.57% of the vote, trailed by the Communists (who had 12.61%).
Translated by Artem V. Zagorodnov
|
