Politics of Russia - Political Parties and Elections

Political Parties and Elections

For other political parties see Political parties in Russia. An overview on elections and election results is included in Elections in Russia.
e • d Summary of the 4 March 2012 Russian presidential election results
Candidates Nominating parties Votes %
Vladimir Putin United Russia 45,513,001 63.64
Gennady Zyuganov Communist Party 12,288,624 17.18
Mikhail Prokhorov Independent 5,680,558 7.94
Vladimir Zhirinovsky Liberal Democratic Party 4,448,959 6.22
Sergey Mironov A Just Russia 2,755,642 3.85
Valid votes 70,686,784 98.84
Invalid votes 833,191 1.16
Total votes 71,519,975 100.00
Registered voters/turnout 109,610,812 65.25
Source: Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation
e • d Summary of the 4 December 2011 State Duma election results
Parties and alliances Seat composition Popular vote % ± pp
swing
Seats ± %
United Russia 238 77 52.88% 32,379,135 49.32% 14.98%
Communist Party 92 35 20.46% 12,599,507 19.19% 7.62%
A Just Russia 64 26 14.21% 8,695,522 13.24% 5.50%
Liberal Democratic Party 56 16 12.45% 7,664,570 11.67% 3.53%
Yabloko 0 0 0% 2,252,403 3.43% 1.84%
Patriots of Russia 0 0 0% 639,119 0.97% 0.08%
Right Cause 0 0 0% 392,806 0.60% new party
Total 450 0 100% 64,623,062 100%
Valid ballot papers 64,623,062 98.43%
Invalid ballot papers 1,033,464 1.57%
Eligible voters 109,237,780 Turnout: 60.10%

Formerly seats in Russia the Duma were elected half by proportional representation ( with at least 5% of the vote to qualify for seats) and half by single member districts. However, President Putin passed a law that all seats are to be elected by proportional representation ( with at least 7% of the vote to qualify for seats) to take effect in the December 2007 elections. By doing this Putin has eliminated independents and made it more difficult for small parties to be elected to the Duma.

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