1999 Russian legislative election

1999 Russian legislative election

← 1995 19 December 1999 2003 →
All 450 seats in the State Duma 226 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	61.85% ( 2.53 pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Gennady Zyuganov Sergei Shoigu Yevgeny Primakov Party CPRF Unity OVR Leader since 14 February 1993 3 October 1999 21 August 1999 Leader's seat Federal list Federal list Federal list Last election 157 seats, 22.30% New New Seats won 113 73 68 Seat change 44 New New Popular vote 16,195,569 15,548,707 8,886,697 Percentage 24.29% (PL) 23.32% (PL) 13.33% (PL) Swing 1.99% New New   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Sergey Kiriyenko Grigory Yavlinsky Vladimir Zhirinovsky Party SPS Yabloko Zhirinovsky Bloc Leader since 24 August 1999 16 October 1993 13 December 1989 Leader's seat Federal list Federal list Federal list Last election New 45 seats, 6.89% 41 seats, 11.18% Seats won 29 20 17 Seat change New 25 34 Popular vote 5,676,982 3,955,457 3,989,932 Percentage 8.52% (PL) 5.93% (PL) 5.98% (PL) Swing New 0.96% 5.20%   Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party   Leader Viktor Chernomyrdin Viktor Ilyukhin Sergey Baburin Party NDR DPA ROS Leader since 12 May 1995 8 July 1998 21 December 1991 Leader's seat Yamalo-Nenets Pervomaysky Federal list (lost) Last election 55 seats, 10.13% New 5 seats (inside VN) Seats won 7 2 2 Seat change 48 New 3 Popular vote 791,160 384,392 245,266 Percentage 1.19% (PL) 0.58% (PL) 0.37% (PL) Swing 8.94% New –
Winning party by region
Chairman of the State Duma before election Gennadiy Seleznyov CPRF Elected Chairman of the State Duma Gennadiy Seleznyov CPRF

Legislative elections were held in Russia on 19 December 1999 to elect the 450 seats in the State Duma, the lower house of the Federal Assembly.^[1] Like in the previous elections in 1995, the electoral system resulted in many parties competing for the proportional seats and a significant number of independent deputies elected.

Electoral system

According to the 1993 electoral law, 225 members of the house were allocated proportionally, using statewide party lists, while other 225 members were elected in single-member constituencies, using first past the post system.

To secure a place on the ballot, parties had to have registered with the Russian Ministry of Justice one year before the election (instead of six months in previous elections). As an alternative to gathering 200,000 signatures, they had the option of paying a deposit of just over two million roubles, returnable if the party won at least 3.0 percent of the list vote. In order to increase proportionality, the law provided that if parties reaching the five per cent threshold got in total 50 per cent or less of the vote, parties with at least 3.0 per cent of the vote would also win seats by declining numbers of votes up to the point at which the total share of vote exceeded 50 per cent. However, if after this procedure the parties winning seats still had less than 50 per cent of the vote, the election was to be deemed invalid. In the single-member district ballots, if votes cast against all exceeded the votes of each candidate, a repeat election had to be held within four months. As a result, repeat elections had to be held in eight districts. Finally, as an alternative to gathering signatures in support of their nomination, single-member district candidates were also given the option of paying a deposit of 83,490 roubles, returnable if she won at least 5.0 percent of the district vote.

Campaign

The early election campaign saw the initial surge in popularity of Fatherland-All Russia bloc, led by the Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov and the former Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, which tried to capitalize upon the perceived incapacity of President Boris Yeltsin and the weakness of his administration. The tide had turned on 9 August 1999 when Yeltsin designated Vladimir Putin as Prime Minister and his eventual successor. On 24 November, Putin announced that "as a citizen" he will support the recently formed pro-government bloc Interregional Movement "Unity", headed by General Sergei Shoigu, a member of all Russian governments since 1994.

Opinion polls

Results

Further reading

• Hesli, Vicki L. & William M. Reisinger (2003). The 1999–2000 Elections in Russia: Their Impact and Legacy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-81676-9

reviewed by Luke March in: Slavic Review 63.4 (Winter 2004), 897–898.

• Russian general elections
• Final report on the parliamentary elections in the Russian Federation, 19 December 1999 Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, 13 February 2000.
• Ad hoc Committee to observe the parliamentary elections in Russia (19 December 1999), PACE Report. 24 January 2000.

Notes

References

This page was last edited on 22 June 2024, at 14:14