Factions in the State Duma after the 2003 Parliamentary Elections

The Constitution of the Russian Federation guarantees its citizens two forms of representation in the Duma. First, each citizen chooses one party for which to cast a ballot; 225 seats in the Duma are then distributed among party-determined lists of candidates in proportion to the share of votes received by each party that gets at least 5 percent of the total. An additional 225 seats constitute the second form of Duma representation: each citizen selects from among a set of candidates who personally represent one of the 225 territorial districts. The candidate with a majority of votes wins the seat. The Duma thus contains a total of 450 seats.

The winners of the December 2003 elections to the State Duma were:

1. first and foremost, the United Russia Party, the pro-Presidential party, which is labeled "party of power" due to its proximity to the President.
2. the Liberal-Democratic Party of Russia, which in December 2003 nearly doubled its results in comparison with the previous (December 1999) elections in the party-list voting;
3. the Motherland Party, a political instrument, invented by the Presidential Administration especially to take votes away from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.

The rightist political parties, the Union of Right Forces (SPS) and Yabloko were practically ignored at the polling stations - each failed to pass the 5 percent threshold in the party-list voting. Another big loser was the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, which saw its party-list vote drop from 24 percent to 12 percent.

Currently there are four factions in the State Duma of the Russian Federation:

• The United Russia has 305 deputies, and that exceeds the so called "constitutional" majority, i.e. more then two-thirds of the Duma (300 of 450). Such a crucial majority gives this faction an opportunity to practically ignore all other factions and independent members of the State Duma. The United Russia can pass any legislation, including one which may change the political system of the country and initiate changes in the Russian Constitution of 1993. The United Russia, as a pro-Presidential party, has never challenged any proposal or idea of the Russian President and his Administration.
• The Communist Party of the Russian Federation has 48 deputies in the State Duma, which is the smallest communists' faction since the first parliamentary elections in December 1993. The role of Communists in the State Duma is absolutely marginal. It is in opposition to the President Vladimir Putin and pro-Presidential members of the State Duma, but all its oppositional initiatives have been effectively blocked by Duma's majority.
• The Motherland (Rodina) party has the third largest faction with 39 deputies. The faction is divided into two factions around two leaders of the 2003 election campaign: Sergey Glaziev and Dmitry Rogozin. Dmitry Rogozin, however, was able to establish a relative control over the whole faction, mainly due to his active cooperation with the Presidential Administration. That's why it is possible to consider this faction to be pro-Presidential, even though its members are frequently criticizing the policies of the United Russia.
• The Liberal-Democratic Party of Russia has the smallest fraction (35 deputies). The party's political program doesn't amount to much either. The faction may be considered as pro-Presidential, at least in all important voting during 5 years of Vladimir Putin's rule.
• In the State Duma there are also 22 deputies, which have "independent status", i.e. didn't join any of the above-mentioned factions. Among them there are members of democratic parties, which lost elections in party-list voting: the Union of Right Forces and the Yabloko Party. But there are also former deputies of the Communist Party, as well as populist politicians. Usually these members of the State Duma vote against presidential initiatives.

There are 29 permanent committees in the State Duma, where all chairmen are members of the United Russia. The party was able to reject proposals to divide committees according to the size of the parliamentary factions due to its overwhelming majority in the Duma. There are also 6 commissions in the State Duma, including one analyzing the tragic events that took place in September 2004 in Beslan, Northern Osetia.

The official web-site of the State Duma: http://www.duma.gov.ru/

Text:

Dr. Stanislav Tkachenko,
Saint Petersburg State University

Web editing:

Yegor Paanukoski

    

Updated:

January 2005

Jiri Kupiainen