Source: http://www.russiavotes.org/duma/duma_election_law.php?S776173303132=732d47538b10f64be14861adc60c411e
Timestamp: 2014-08-23 09:27:30
Document Index: 122119245

Matched Legal Cases: ['Art. 3', 'Art. 82', 'Art.\n5', 'Art.\n7', 'Art.\n8', 'Art.38', 'Art. 39', 'Art.42', 'Art. 43', 'Art.\n44', 'Art. 64', 'Art. 6']

Russia Votes	Home > How the Duma electoral system works > Duma Election Law: Details
Duma Election Law: Details Law on Elections of Deputies to the State Duma(Federal Law of 18 May 2005 No. 51-F3, as amended through 19 July 2009).
Click here for the full text in Russian.
1. PR system Beginning with the 2007 election, all 450 Duma members
are elected on party lists in a single nationwide constituency under
proportional representation (Art. 3). (This replaces the mixed-member
system which existed from 1993 to 2003).
2. Threshold: 7% The threshold to win seats is 7 percent of the total
vote, provided that at least two parties win seats and the combined vote
of these parties is more than 60 per cent of the total vote (Art. 82). If the total
vote for parties passing the 7 percent threshold is 60 percent or less,
then parties with less than 7 percent of the total vote also win seats,
in descending order according to their votes, until the total vote for
parties winning seats exceeds 60 percent. If one party wins more than
60 percent of the vote, and the other parties less than 7 percent, then
the party with the second highest number of votes wins seats also. (In
2003 and previous elections the threshold was 5.0%).
Following an amendment to the law in spring 2009, parties winning more than 5% but less than 6% get one seat each; parties with more than 6% but less than 7% get two seats each. These seats are allocated before distributing the remaining seats to parties passing the 7% threshold.
3. Minimum turnout: NONE There is no minimum turnout for a valid election. In previous Duma elections, it was 25 percent.
4. Method of seat distribution Seats are distributed by proportional representation
using the Hare method, that is, the total number of valid votes is divided
by the total number of seats to produced a quotient, and each party's
total valid vote is divided by the quotient to determine how many many
seats it wins. If any seats are undistributed after this, they go to
the parties with the highest remainders resulting from the division (Art.
5. Only registered parties compete Only political parties registered as such under the
parties law of 11 June 2001 are allowed to put up candidates, although
up to 50% of each list can be made up by candidates who are not members
of the party concerned. The requirements for party registration are stringent, and include a minimum of 50,000 members, branches with at least 500 members in more than half the 83 regions of the Federation and no less than 250 members in the remaining regional branches. After amendments to the law in spring 2009, these requirements are being gradually relaxed: in 2010 and 2011, the minimum number of members will be 45,000, branches with at least 450 members in more than half the regions and no less than 200 members in the remaining branches; from 2012, the minimum members will be 40,000, branches with at least 400 members in more than half the regions and no less 150 members in the remaining branches) The full
list of registered parties is periodically updated by the Central Electoral Commission.
6. Party affiliations fixed: Formation of blocs of parties is not allowed. (Art.
7). (In previous elections, parties frequently combined to form blocs
to increase their chances of overcoming the threshold). In addition,
as a result of an amendment to the law (Law No. 93-F3 of 21 July 2005),
Duma members are no longer allowed to change their party affiliation
after being elected. (Previously many Duma members, especially those
elected in single-member districts as independents, changed their affiliations
after being elected, with the result that there was a big gap between
election results and parties represented in the Duma). 7. Regional division of lists obligatory Party lists must be divided into an all-federal group
consisting of the top three candidates, and a minimum of 100 regional
groups covering the entire territory of the Russian Federation (Art.
8. The CEC evaluates and approves all candidates in 2 stages... The process is triggered by the announcement of the
election by the President. Within 30 days after the announcement of the election,
party conferences nominate LISTS of candidates by secret ballot and present
their lists to the Central Election Commission, including information
about candidates' citizenship, employment status, property and income.
Within seven days of receiving a party's list of candidates, the Commission
must certify (zaveryat') the list or reject it
if documents submitted are incomplete. A party can appeal rejection to
the Supreme Court, which must consider the appeal within five days (Art.38).
After certification of party lists, no further changes
to the list are allowed, unless a candidate dies or withdraws. The CEC
publishes the information about candidates presented in the nomination
papers on the Internet. After a party's list has been certified, if a party
had won any number of seats in the previous Duma election--in 2007 this
includes United Russia, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation,
the Liberal Democratic Party, and Motherland--it has the right to nominate a list of candidates. In addition, following amendments to the law in spring 2009, parties with seats in at least one third of the legislative assemblies of the 83 regions of the Federation, have the right to nominate a list. Parties not meeting any of the above requirements
must collect 150,000 signatures for the 2011 elections or 120,000 signatures for subsequent elections (Art. 39). For both the 2011 and subsequent elections, no more than 5,000 signatures can come from any one region. For the 2007 election, the number of signatures required was set at 200,000, of which no more than 10,000 could
come from any one region. Parties also had the option to pay a deposit equal to 60 million roubles
(about $2.3 million), returnable if the party won 4 percent
or more of the total vote. Amendments to the law in 2009 abolished electoral deposits in elections at all levels. No later than 45 days before the election all parties must FILE nomination papers PLUS any signatures
collected in order to register (registrirovat'sya)
for a place on the ballot (Art.42). After they have filed their nomination
papers, the Central Election Commission verifies the accuracy of the information
presented by candidates about themselves, and it is obliged to publicize
any inaccuracies through the mass media (Art. 43.6). It also checks the
validity of signatures collected. Within ten days after the papers are
filed, the Commission must confirm a place on the ballot or refuse it
on grounds of procedural or other violations of election
law or if a sample of the signatures contains 5 percent or more which
are false or invalid. A party has the right to appeal refusal in the Supreme Court,
which must consider the matter within five days (Art.
44). The election may be delayed for two months if the requirements
for nomination leave less than two parties on the ballot.
9. Maximum expenditure levels Maximum permitted campaign expenditures are set at
federal level and at regional level. At federal level, the maximum expenditure
is 400 million roubles, of which no more than 50 percent can come from
the party's own resources, and the remainder must come from individual
donations up to a maximum of 280,000 roubles, and donations by organizations
up to a maximum of 14 million roubles. At regional level, the maximum
expenditure varies from 6 to 30 million roubles depending on the population
of the region. Foreign companies, organizations and persons and Russian
companies with more than 30 percent foreign capital participation are
not permitted to make donations (Art. 64).
10. Period of effect In force from 7 December 2006, except provisions
concerning announcement of elections (Art. 6), which are in force from May 2005.
This page was last updated on 05-Jun-2014 10:58:48 BST