Legislative elections were held in Russia on 15 February 2015. At stake are the 590 seats in the State Duma, the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia (the legislature) as well as 62 seats in the upper house, the Federation Council.
Electoral system[]
The threshold for eligibility to win seats is 8.0 percent. In addition, a party which receives between 6.0 and 7.0 percent will get 1 seat in the Duma and those which receive between 7.0 and 8.0 percent will get 2 seats if not associated with another party which passes the 8.0 percent threshold.
Political parties[]
All four registered political parties were approved to participate in the elections by the Central Election Committee, as all parties were present in the State Duma and were thus automatically eligible to participate in the elections. Other parties and independent candidates needed to present at least 150,000 signatures (with a maximum of 5000 signatures per region) to the Central Electoral Commission before 1 December 2014. A total of 62 independent candidates were qualified.
| Ballot number |
Party | Party leader | № 1 in party list | Registration for 2015 elections | Ideology | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Federal Republican Party of Russia | Sergey Romanov | Valentina Romanova | 24 July 2014 | Statism, conservatism | |
| 2 | United Fatherland Party | Evgeny Sokolov | Evgeny Sokolov | 13 September 2014 | Conservatism | |
| 3 | Liberal Justice Party of Russia | Gennady Semin | Gennady Semin | 10 September 2014 | Centrism, Liberalism | |
| 4 | Communist Party of the Russian Federation | Gennady Repin | Grigorii Voronovskyj | 15 January 2014 | Communism / Soviet nostalgia | |
| 5 | Independent Candidates | None | Multiple | 2013-2014 | Many | |
Foreign observers[]
The Central Electoral Commission issued invitations to foreign observers in December 2014. Observations are to be conducted at pre-determined voting stations.
Invitations were issued to the following countries and institutions:
- International-alliance
- Representatives of the Six-party trade union agreement (6TUA)
- Stravakia
- Republic of Vanguard
By decree of the President of Russia the following organisations were banned from observing the elections despite their request to do so:
- Freedom House
- Amnesty International
Results[]
As expected, the Federal Republican Party won an overwhelming majority, counting a total of 81,63% of the votes, which means that their number of deputes in the State Duma rose to 481 out of a total 590 and in the Federation Council 111 of 125 (51 won in the legislative elections and 60 representatives elected in regional elections).
Second came the Communist Party of Russia with 11,04% of the votes, the rest being divided between independent candidates and the United Fatherland Party.
The Liberal Justice party of Russia does not have representation in the Federal Assembly after the elections.
Reactions[]
- Freedom House recognized the elections as "reflecting the will of the Russian people", but also pointed out that they had received reports of irregularities in as many as 53 subjects (1 301 voting stations total). Freedom House was not officially permitted to observe the Russian elections.