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Duma Voting behaviour: 2011

FINAL RESULT OF THE DUMA ELECTION, 4 DECEMBER 2011

 

 

 

 

 

Electorate

109,237,780

%

 

 

Valid Votes

64,623,062

59.2

 

 

Invalid Votes

1,033,464

0.9

 

 

Total Votes

65,656,526

60.1

 

 

 

Votes

%

Seats

%

United Russia

32,379,135

49.32

238

52.9

Communist Party

12,599,507

19.19

92

20.4

Fair Russia

8,695,522

13.24

64

14.2

Liberal Democrats

7,664,570

11.67

56

12.4

Yabloko

2,252,403

3.43

0

-

Patriots of Russia

639,118

0.97

0

-

Right Cause

392,806

0.60

0

-

Invalid Votes

1,033,464

1.57(a)

n/a

n/a

Source: Data from the Russian CEC protocol on the results of the elections to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly, http://www.vybory.izbirkom.ru, accessed 09.12.11

 

(a): As percentage of total votes cast.



Election Assessments 2011

THE CHANGE IN SEATS

In the past, deputies elected to the Duma could their allegiance in parliament. Under current legislation, any deputies changing their party allegiance automatically forfeit their seats, which are given to the next person in the list of their original party. They may, however, quit their party and continue to sit as independents. The change of seats after the 2011 Duma election is as follows:

Seats/Votes:

Vote share

Vote share

Change %

Seats

Seats

Change

 

2007

2011

2007

2011

United Russia

64.30

49.32

-14.98

315

238

-77

Communists

11.57

19.19

7.62

57

92

35

Liberal Democrats

8.14

11.67

3.53

40

56

16

Fair Russia

7.74

13.24

5.5

38

64

26

Agrarian Party

2.30

-

-

-

-

-

Yabloko

1.59

3.43

1.84

-

-

-

Civic Strength

1.05

-

-

-

-

-

Union of Right Forces

0.96

-

-

-

-

-

Patriots of Russia

0.89

0.97

0.08

-

-

-

Civic Strength

1.05

-

-

-

-

-

Party of Social Fairness

0.22

-

-

-

-

-

Democratic Party of Russia

0.13

-

-

-

-

-

Right Cause*

-

0.60

-

-

-

-

Invalid Votes

0.70

1.57

0.87

n/a

n/a

n/a

Total

100

100

--

450

450

--

NB: *Created in 2008 following the merger of three liberal parties: Civic Strength, Democratic Party of Russia and Union of Right Forces.

To compare with Duma alignments in the past, see Duma parties 1995-2011

THE MAJOR PARTIES

United Russia (Edinaya Rossiya ). Party list headed by President Putin during the 2007 election campaign, and endorsed by him in 2003. The party was created in December 2001 by the merger of Unity (Edinstvo), founded by government leaders in October 1999, with Fatherland-All Russia (Otechestvo-Vsya Rossiya, OVR), a rival in the 1999 elections. United Russia is formally led by Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov. Sergei Shoigu, minister for emergency situations and civil defence, Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov and Tatarstan president Mintimer Shaimiev, former OVR leaders, are co-chairs.

Communist Party, KPRF (Kommunisticheskaya Partiya Rossiiskoi Federatsii). Founded 1993. Leader: Gennady Zyuganov. Successor to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Won the most seats in the 1995 and 1999 Duma elections. .

Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, LDPR (Liberalno-Demokraticheskaya Partiya Rossiskoi Federatsii). Founded 1990. Led by maverick nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky.

Fair Russia. (Spravedivya Rossiya). Formed 2006 by the merger of Motherland People's Patriotic Union (Rodina Narodno-patriotichesky soyuz) with the Party of Pensioners and the Party of Life. Fair Russia is led by the Speaker of the Federation Council Sergei Mironov. Motherland had its origins in late August 2003 when more than 30 organizations came together under the leadership of academician Sergei Glazyev and journalist Dmitry Rogozin. Glazyev and Rogozin quarrelled over whether to contest the 2004 presidential election. Subsequently the Duma fraction split into two groups, the People's Patriotic Union giving rise to Fair Russia, and the People's Will faction, which did not contest the 2007 election.


Two liberal parties which formed separate blocs in previous Duma elections failed to clear the 7.0% barrier in 2007, just as they failed to clear to 5.0% barrier in 2003. They remain extra-parliamentary parties:

  • Union of Right Forces, SPS (Soyuz Pravykh Sil). Founded in 1999. A pro-market party led by Nikita Belykh alongside Boris Nemtsov, former First Deputy Prime Minister in the Chernomyrdin cabinet. All three SPS deputies elected in single-member districts in 2003 had joined United Russia by the opening of the Duma.
  • Yabloko.Founded 1993. Leader: Grigory Yavlinsky. Pro-market party which criticized the economic reforms of the 1990s. By the opening of the Duma in December 2003, one Yabloko deputy elected in a single-member district had joined United Russia and the remaining three were independents.