1995 Russian legislative election

Legislative election were held in Russia on 17 December 1995.[1] At stake were the 450 seats in the State Duma (Gosudarstvennaya Duma), the lower house of the Federal Assembly.

1995 Russian legislative election

December 17, 1995

All 450 seats to the State Duma
226 seats needed for a majority
Turnout64.4% 9.6 pp
  Majority party Minority party Third party
 
Leader Gennady Zyuganov Vladimir Zhirinovsky Viktor Chernomyrdin
Party Communist Party LDPR Our Home – Russia
Last election 42 64 -
Seats won 157 51 55
Seat change 115 13 55
Popular vote 15,432,963 7,737,431 7,009,291
Percentage 22.30% 11.18% 10.13%
Swing 9.9pp 11.74pp -

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Grigory Yavlinsky Yegor Gaidar Mikhail Lapshin
Party Yabloko Democratic Choice of Russia – United Democrats Agrarian Party of Russia
Last election 27 96 47
Seats won 45 9 20
Seat change 18 87 27
Popular vote 4,767,384 2,674,084 2,613,127
Percentage 6.89% 3.86% 3.78%
Swing 0.97pp 11.65pp 4.22pp

Chairman before election

Ivan Rybkin
Agrarian Party

Elected Chairman

Gennadiy Seleznyov
Communist Party

Election results

Rules

The election law adopted for the 1995 election was similar to that adopted for the 1993 election, with some minor modifications. First, to secure a place on the proportional representation ballot, parties had to have registered with the Ministry of Justice no later than six months before the election, and the number of signatures they had to gather rose from 100,000 to 200,000. Second, invalid votes were now included in the calculation of the 5.0 percent threshold. Third, on the single-member district ballot, party endorsements of candidates were indicated.

Campaign

Out of the forty three parties and coalitions contesting the elections, only four cleared the 5% threshold to qualify for the proportional seats.

Pro-Government parties

Our Home – Russia had weightier resources and soon acquired the nickname of "party of power" for its reliance on elite political and economic office holders. It was also referred to as "Our Home Is Gazprom" for its close ties to Gazprom's substantial financial resources. Most of the cabinet ministers joined the bloc, and a number of business leaders and regional political elites affiliated with it. However, almost no other parties entered it, and many SMD candidates who had initially affiliated with the party soon left it. One of the early parties to enter the bloc, Sergei Shakhrai's Party of Russian Unity and Accord, also deserted it in August.[2] The party program called for "stability and development, democracy and patriotism, confidence and order" as well as "pragmatism" and "a civilized market". Other proposals were contradictory as the party proposed, among other things, to encourage foreign investment while protecting Russian manufacturers, and to promote agricultural reform while regulating land ownership.

In the election, the Our Home Is Russia bloc took 10.1% of the vote, enough to form a faction in the State Duma but not enough to serve as a dominant or pivotal force in parliament or in the regions. At its peak, the party claimed the membership of around one third of Russia's governors. However, both the center and regional elites made only ephemeral commitments to Our Home is Russia.[3][4]

Opposition parties

As a result of these elections, the Communists and their satellites, the Agrarians and other left-wing deputies, controlled a little less than the half of the seats. The populist LDPR occasionally sided with the left majority, but often supported the government. As in the previous Duma, the parliamentary groups of independent deputies had a significant influence on the balance of power in the parliament.

On January 17, 1996 a Communist, Gennady Seleznyov, was elected the Speaker of the Duma.

Results

Party PR Constituency Total
seats
+/–
Votes % Seats Votes % Seats
Communist Party15,432,96322.30998,636,39212.7858157+92
Liberal Democratic Party7,737,43111.18503,801,9715.63151–19
Our Home – Russia7,009,29110.13453,808,7455.641055New
Yabloko4,767,3846.89312,209,9453.271445+12
Women of Russia3,188,8134.610712,0721.0533–22
Communists and Working Russia - for the Soviet Union3,137,4064.5301,276,6551.8911New
Congress of Russian Communities2,980,1374.3101,987,6652.9455New
Party of Workers' Self-Government2,756,9543.980475,0070.711New
Democratic Choice of Russia – United Democrats2,674,0843.8601,819,3302.6999–85
Agrarian Party of Russia2,613,1273.7804,066,2146.022020–27
Derzhava1,781,2332.570420,8600.6200New
Forward, Russia!1,343,4281.9401,054,5771.5633New
Power to the People!1,112,8731.6101,345,9051.9999New
Pamfilova-Gurov-Lysenko1,106,8121.60476,7210.7122New
Trade Unions and Industrialists – Union of Labour1,076,0721.550584,0630.8611New
Environmental Party of Russia "Kedr"962,1951.390304,8960.45000
Ivan Rybkin Bloc769,2591.1101,073,5801.5933New
Stanislav Govorukhin Bloc688,4960.9904832810.7211New
My Fatherland496,2760.720351,9110.5211New
Common Cause472,6150.68011New
Beer Lovers Party428,7270.62057,9460.0900
All Russian Muslim Public Movement "Nur"393,5130.570496890.0700
Transformation of the Fatherland339,6540.490227,8220.3411New
National Republican Party of Russia331,7000.4800
Block of Djuna323,2320.4700
Party of Russian Unity and Accord245,9770.360285,6540.4211–26
Russian Lawyers' Association242,9660.35096,0460.1400
For the Motherland!194,2540.280213,7230.3200
Christian-Democratic Union - Christians of Russia191,4460.2800
Cause of Peter the First145,7040.2100
People's Union130,7280.19070,6850.100
"Tikhonov-Tupolev-Tikhonov" Bloc102,0390.15065,4580.100
Russian Union of Workers of ZhKKh97,2740.140115,3860.1700
Social Democrats88,6420.130233,2690.3500
Party of Economic Freedom88,4160.130199,1500.2911New
Russian All-People's Movement86,4220.120224,7790.3300
Bloc of Independents83,7420.120375,2870.5611New
Federal Democratic Movement82,9480.12086,5190.1300
Sociopolitical Movement "Stable Russia"81,2850.120159,2260.2400
Duma-9655,8970.080108,6720.1600
Frontier Generation44,2020.06013,4290.0200
Bloc '8940,8400.060175,4590.2611New
Interethnic Union39,5920.060169,7460.2500
Other parties1,486,6422.1500
Independents21,620,83531.997777–53
Against all1,918,1512.776,660,4959.85
Invalid/blank votes1,320,6191,582,227
Total69,204,81910022569,167,9341002254500
Registered voters/turnout107,496,85664.4107,496,85664.3
Source: University of Essex, Nohlen & Stöver

Parliamentary Groups

Parliamentary group Leader Seats (Jan.'96)
Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov 139
Our Home - Russia Sergei Belyaev 65
Liberal Democratic Party of Russia Vladimir Zhirinovsky 49
Yabloko Grigory Yavlinsky 45
"Regions of Russia (Independent Deputies)" Oleg Morozov 44
People's Power Nikolai Ryzhkov 41
Agrarian Group Nikolay Kharitonov 35
Democratic Choice of Russia (unregistered) Sergey Yushenkov 6
Independents 19
Total 450

References

  1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1642 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. Belin&Orttung 1997, pp. 34–36
  3. Hale, 2006, pp. 208–209
  4. McFaul, 2001, p. 205
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