page_title: Elections in Russia
section_title: Parliament
hierarchical_section_title: Elections in Russia / Federal elections / Parliament
caption_attribution_description: Бюллетень на выборах в Госдуму 2011
context_page_description: On the federal level, Russia elects a president as head of state and a legislature, one of the two chambers of the Federal Assembly. The president is elected for, at most, two consecutive six-year terms by the people. The Federal Assembly has two chambers. The State Duma has 450 members, elected for five-year terms. The Federation Council is not directly elected; each of the 85 federal subjects of Russia sends 2 delegates to the Federal Council, for a total of 170 members.
  Since 1990, there have been seven elections for the presidency and seven for parliament.
  In the seven presidential elections, only once, in 1996, has a second round been needed. There have been three presidents, with Boris Yeltsin elected in 1991 and 1996, Vladimir Putin in 2000, 2004, 2012 and 2018 and Dmitry Medvedev in 2008. The Communist candidate has finished second in every case: Nikolai Ryzhkov in 1991, Gennady Zyuganov in 1996, 2000 and 2008 and 2011, Nikolay Kharitonov in 2004 and Pavel Grudinin in 2018. Only in 1996 has there been a third candidate who gained more than 10% of the votes in the first round, Alexander Lebed.
context_section_description: Legislative elections take place in Russia's 85 subjects of federation ranging from oblasts, republics, autonomous territories, and autonomous okrugs.
  The elections for the State Duma of Russia are held every five years, and the dispute is for the 450 seats of the Parliament. Half of the seats are allocated through a proportional representation party list voting, with a threshold of 5%. The other half is appointed through majority voting, where one deputy is elected for one constituency. Regional assemblies with their respective deputies are formed through this system.  The legislative body of Russia (the council and the State Duma) are subject to the articles 94-109 of the constitution, and these explain important points about the elections for the parliament in Russia, these are:
  -The State Duma (Parliament) is elected for a term of 5 years.
  -Any citizen of the Russian Federation who is at least 21 years old can be a candidate.
  -The president is to call the elections for the State Duma, in accordance with the Constitution.
  -The Federation Council is elected indirectly, appointing one member of the government and one member from the legislative branch for each of the 85 federal units of Russia in accordance with the relevant laws and the provisions of the Constitution, as amended. The president is also empowered to appoint any person as a member of the Council.
  On May 2012 President Medvedev signed a new legislation exempting political parties from the need to collect signatures to run in parliamentary elections.
caption: Ballot to the 2011 State Duma election with list of Political parties.
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