At stake in this election:

• The office of President of Russia

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Boris Nikolayevich YEL'TSIN
• Head of Government: Premier Yevgeniy Maksimovich PRIMAKOV
• Assembly: Russia has a bicameral Federal Assembly (Federalnoye Sobraniye) consisting of the Federation Council (Sovet Federatsii) with 178 seats and the State Duma (Gosudarstvennaya Duma) with 450 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system to serve a 4-year term.
• The Premier is appointed by the President.
• In the Federation Council (Sovet Federatsii) 178 members are appointed by regional governing councils to serve 4-year terms*. In the State Duma (Gosudarstvennaya Duma), 225 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms and 225 members are elected by plurality vote in single-member constituencies to serve 4-year terms.**

* Members appointed by the top executive and legislative officials in each of the 89 federal administrative units.

** There is a 5% threshold in the proportional tier.

Main Candidates in the Presidential race:

• Vladimir Putin
  • Party: Independent Candidate
• Gennady Zyuganov
  • Party: Communist Party (KPRF)
• Grigory Yavlinsky
  • Party: "Yabloko"
• Aman Tuteyev
  • Party: Independent Candidate
• Vladimir Zhirinovsky
  • Party: Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR)
• Other Candidates and Votes Against All Candidates
  • Party: N/A

Last Presidential election:

• Presidential elections were last held on June 16, 1996 and July 3, 1996 (Second Round). Boris YELTSIN received 53.83% of the votes in the second round, thereby defeating Gennady ZYUGANOV who received 40.30%.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 146,393,569 (July 1999 est.)
• Registered Voters: 109,372,046 (2000)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 78,265,048 (1999)

·         Is Russia a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (17 July 1980)

·         Has Russia ratified CEDAW: Yes (23 January 1981)

·         Gender Quota: No

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 34 (State Duma) following the 1999 elections

·         Human Development Index Position: 50 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: N/A

Disability Data:

·         Is Russia a signatory to CRPD: Yes (24 September 2008)

·         Has Russia ratified CRPD: Yes (25 September 2012)

·         Population with a disability: 22,082,158 (est.)