At stake in this election:

• 450 seats in the State Duma (Gosudarstvennaya Duma)

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 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 parties in the electoral race:

• Party: The Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF)
  • Leader: Gennady ZYUGANOV
  • Seats won in this State Duma election: 113
  • Seats won in last State Duma election: 157
• Party: Unity or The Bear / Edinstvo / Medved
  • Leader: Vladimir RYZHKOV
  • Seats won in this State Duma election: 73
  • Seats won in last State Duma election: N/A
• Party: Fatherland-All Russia Party (OVR)***
  • Leader: LUZHKOV and Yevgeny PRIMAKOV
  • Seats won in this State Duma election: 68
  • Seats won in last State Duma election: N/A
• Party: Union of Right Forces
  • Leader: Sergi KIRIYENKO and Boris NEMTSON
  • Seats won in this State Duma election: 29
  • Seats won in last State Duma election: 0
• Bloc: Zhirinovsky Bloc*****
  • Leader: Vladimir ZHIRINOVSKY
  • Seats won in this State Duma election: 17
  • Seats won in last State Duma election: N/A
• Party: Our Home is Russia (NDR)
  • Leader: Vladimir RYZHKOV
  • Seats won in this State Duma election: 7
  • Seats won in last State Duma election: 55
• Party: Yabloko
  • Leader: N/A
  • Seats won in this State Duma election: 20
  • Seats won in last State Duma election: N/A
• Party: Other Candidates and Votes Against All Candidates
  • Leader: N/A
  • Seats won in this State Duma election: 115
  • Seats won in last State Duma election: N/A

*** The Agrarian Party, which gained 20 seats in the last election to the Gosudarstvennaya Duma, has aligned itself wiht the OVR.
***** The Liberal Democratic Party lead by Vladimir Zhrinovsky gained 51 seats in the last election to the Gosudarstvennaya Duma.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 147,214,392 (1999)
• Registered Voters: 107,239,000 (1999)

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.)