1999 Russian legislative election

1999 Russian legislative election

← 1995 19 December 1999 2003 →
All 450 seats to the State Duma 226 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	61.85% 2.91 pp
Party Leader % Seats +/– CPRF Gennady Zyuganov 24.29% 113 -44 Unity Sergei Shoigu 23.32% 73 New OVR Yevgeny Primakov 13.33% 68 New SPS Sergey Kiriyenko 8.52% 29 New Zhirinovsky Bloc Vladimir Zhirinovsky 5.98% 17 -34 Yabloko Grigory Yavlinsky 5.93% 20 -25 RPP Yakov Ryabov 1.95% 1 New NDR Viktor Chernomyrdin 1.19% 7 -48 KRO Yury Boldyrev 0.61% 1 -4 DPA Viktor Ilyukhin 0.58% 2 New SNT-PST Andrei Nikolayev 0.56% 1 0 ROS Sergey Baburin 0.37% 2 -7 RSP Vladimir Bryntsalov 0.24% 1 New Spiritual Heritage Alexey Podberezkin 0.10% 1 New Independents – 42.98% 105 +28 – – 9 +9 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Winning party by region Chairman of the State Duma before Chairman of the State Duma after Gennadiy Seleznyov CPRF Gennadiy Seleznyov CPRF

Election results

Liberal Democratic nominee Vladimir Zhirinovsky campaigning for his party

Legislative election 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.

Results[]

Party		PR			Constituency			Total seats	+/–
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Communist Party of the Russian Federation	16,196,024	24.29	67	8,893,547	13.73	46	113	–44
	Unity	15,549,182	23.32	64	1,408,801	2.17	9	73	New
	Fatherland – All Russia	8,886,753	13.33	37	5,469,389	8.43	31	68	New
	Union of Right Forces	5,677,247	8.52	24	2,016,294	3.11	5	29	New
	Zhirinovsky Bloc	3,990,038	5.98	17	1,026,690	1.58	0	17	–34
	Yabloko	3,955,611	5.93	16	3,289,760	5.07	4	20	–25
	Communists and Workers of Russia - for the Soviet Union	1,481,890	2.22	0	439,770	0.68	0	0	–1
	Women of Russia	1,359,042	2.04	0	326,884	0.50	0	0	–3
	Party of Pensioners	1,298,971	1.95	0	480,087	0.74	1	1	New
	Our Home – Russia	790,983	1.19	0	1,733,257	2.67	7	7	–48
	Russian Party for the Protection of Women	536,022	0.8	0	–	–	–	0	New
	Congress of Russian Communities-Yury Boldyrev Movement	405,298	0.61	0	461,069	0.71	1	1	–4
	Stalin Bloc – For the USSR	404,274	0.61	0	64,346	0.10	0	0	New
	For Civil Dignity	402,754	0.6	0	147,611	0.23	0	0	New
	All-Russian Political Movement in Support of the Army	384,404	0.58	0	466,176	0.72	2	2	New
	Peace, Labour, May	383,332	0.57	0	126,418	0.19	0	0	New
	and Svyatoslav Fyodorov Bloc	371,938	0.56	0	676,437	1.04	1	1	New
	Party of Peace and Unity	247,041	0.37	0	–	–	–	0	New
	Russian All-People's Union	245,266	0.37	0	700,976	1.08	2	2	New
	Russian Socialist Party	156,709	0.24	0	662,030	1.02	1	1	New
	Russian Cause	111,802	0.17	0	1,846	0.00	0	0	New
	Conservative Movement of Russia	87,658	0.13	0	125,926	0.19	0	0	New
	All-Russian People's Party	69,695	0.10	0	–	–	–	0	New
	All-Russian Socio-Political Movement "Spiritual Heritage"	67,417	0.1	0	594,426	0.92	1	1	New
	Socialist Party of Russia	61,689	0.09	0	30,085	0.05	0	0	New
	Social-Democrats of Russia	50,948	0.08	0	18,618	0.03	0	0	0
	Russian Ecological Party "Kedr"	–	–	–	112,167	0.17	0	0	0
	Russian Patriotic Popular Movement	–	–	–	10,481	0.02	0	0	New
	Russian Party	–	–	–	7,918	0.01	0	0	0
	Russian Conservative Party of Entrepreneurs	–	–	–	2,647	0.00	0	0	New
	Independents	–	–	–	27,877,095	42.98	105	105	+28
	Against all	2,198,702	3.32	–	7,695,171	11.86	8	8	–
Vacant seats		–	–	–	–	–	1	1	–
Invalid/blank votes		1,296,992	–	–	1,429,779	–	–	–	–
Total		66,667,682	100	225	66,295,701	100	225	450	0
Registered voters/turnout		108,073,956	61.7	–	108,073,956	61.3	–	–	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver, University of Essex

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, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, February 13, 2000.
• Ad hoc Committee to observe the parliamentary elections in Russia (19 December 1999), PACE Report. January 24, 2000.

References[]