1999 Russian legislative election

Legislative elections were held in Russia on 19 December 1999 to elect the 450 seats in the State Duma, the lower house of the Federal Assembly.[1] Like in the previous elections in 1995, the electoral system resulted in many parties competing for the proportional seats and a significant number of independent deputies elected.

1999 Russian legislative election

← 1995 19 December 1999 2003 →

All 450 seats in the State Duma
226 seats needed for a majority
Turnout61.85% (Decrease 2.53 pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Сергей Шойгу (18-01-2000).jpg
Primakov-Kovalev.jpg
Leader Gennady Zyuganov Sergei Shoigu Yevgeny Primakov
Party CPRF Unity OVR
Leader since 14 February 1993 3 October 1999 21 August 1999
Leader's seat Federal list Federal list Federal list
Last election 157 seats, 22.30% New New
Seats won 113 73 68
Seat change Decrease 44 New New
Popular vote 16,195,569 15,548,707 8,886,697
Percentage 24.29% (PL) 23.32% (PL) 13.33% (PL)
Swing Increase 1.99% New New

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Sergey Kiriyenko Grigory Yavlinsky Vladimir Zhirinovsky
Party SPS Yabloko Zhirinovsky Bloc
Leader since 24 August 1999 16 October 1993 13 December 1989
Leader's seat Federal list Federal list Federal list
Last election New 45 seats, 6.89% 51 seats, 11.18%
Seats won 29 20 17
Seat change New Decrease 25 Decrease 34
Popular vote 5,676,982 3,955,457 3,989,932
Percentage 8.52% (PL) 5.93% (PL) 5.98% (PL)
Swing New Decrease 0.96% Decrease 5.20%

  Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party
 
Ilyukhin (2010-06-18).jpg
Кончина Его Святейщества Алексия II, 05 декабря, ХХС , Соборная встреча. Moscow, Russia - panoramio - Oleg Yu.Novikov (4).jpg
Leader Viktor Chernomyrdin Viktor Ilyukhin Sergey Baburin
Party NDR DPA ROS
Leader since 12 May 1995 8 July 1998 21 December 1991
Leader's seat Yamalo-Nenets Pervomaysky Federal list (lost)
Last election 55 seats, 10.13% New 5 seats (inside VN)
Seats won 7 2 2
Seat change Decrease 48 New Decrease 3
Popular vote 791,160 384,392 245,266
Percentage 1.19% (PL) 0.58% (PL) 0.37% (PL)
Swing Decrease 8.94% New

Winning party by region

Chairman of the State Duma before election

Gennadiy Seleznyov
CPRF

Elected Chairman of the State Duma

Gennadiy Seleznyov
CPRF

Electoral system

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According to the 1993 electoral law, 225 members of the house were allocated proportionally, using statewide party lists, while other 225 members were elected in single-member constituencies, using first past the post system.

To secure a place on the ballot, parties had to have registered with the Russian Ministry of Justice one year before the election (instead of six months in previous elections). As an alternative to gathering 200,000 signatures, they had the option of paying a deposit of just over two million roubles, returnable if the party won at least 3.0 percent of the list vote. In order to increase proportionality, the law provided that if parties reaching the five per cent threshold got in total 50 per cent or less of the vote, parties with at least 3.0 per cent of the vote would also win seats by declining numbers of votes up to the point at which the total share of vote exceeded 50 per cent. However, if after this procedure the parties winning seats still had less than 50 per cent of the vote, the election was to be deemed invalid. In the single-member district ballots, if votes cast against all exceeded the votes of each candidate, a repeat election had to be held within four months. As a result, repeat elections had to be held in eight districts. Finally, as an alternative to gathering signatures in support of their nomination, single-member district candidates were also given the option of paying a deposit of 83,490 roubles, returnable if they won at least 5.0 percent of the district vote.

Campaign

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Liberal Democratic nominee Vladimir Zhirinovsky campaigning for his party

The early election campaign saw the initial surge in popularity of Fatherland-All Russia bloc, led by the Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov and the former Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, which tried to capitalize upon the perceived incapacity of President Boris Yeltsin and the weakness of his administration. The tide had turned on 9 August 1999 when Yeltsin designated Vladimir Putin as Prime Minister and his eventual successor. On 24 November, Putin announced that "as a citizen" he will support the recently formed pro-government bloc Interregional Movement "Unity", headed by General Sergei Shoigu, a member of all Russian governments since 1994.

Opinion polls

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Polling firm Fieldwork date CPRF Unity OVR SPS[a] LDPR NDR Yabloko NRPR[b] Lead
VCIOM[2] 12 Dec 24 21 12 7 4 8 3
FOM[2] 12 Dec 21 16 9 5 5 1 7 5
ROMIR[2] 10-12 Dec 17 17 9 7 5 7 Tie
ARPI[2] 10-12 Dec 20.8 14.7 11.6 6.5 4.4 9 6.1
24 Nov Vladimir Putin endorses Unity bloc
FOM[3] 20-21 Nov 29.1 11.1 15.2 6.9 5.5 1.3 11.1 10
FOM[3] 13-14 Nov 30.1 10.9 19.1 5.4 5.4 2.7 10.9 8
FOM[3] 6-7 Nov 27.3 10.9 21.9 5.4 5.4 4.1 12.3 4
FOM[3] 30-31 Oct 25.9 9.0 22.0 3.8 5.1 2.5 12.9 3
11 Oct CEC forces LDPR to re-register as "Zhirinovsky Bloc"
ARPI[4] 4-10 Oct 30 25 7 5 19 5
FOM[5] 18-19 Sep 21 29 2 3 2 10 4 8
4–16 Sep Russian apartment bombings
FOM[5] 4-5 Sep 20 23 2 5 1 12 4 3
FOM[5] 21–22 Aug 21 27 3 5 1 8 4 6
9 Aug Vladimir Putin appointed prime minister
FOM[5] 24-25 Jul 23 15 5 6 2 11 5 8
ROMIR[6] 5–15 Jul 22.5 13 3.2 4.7 3.9 13.5 2.6 9
FOM[5] 26-27 Jun 22 15 3 6 2 11 5 7
ROMIR[6] 5–15 Jun 21.9 17.2 5.7 4.9 3.7 12.2 7.6 4.7
FOM[5] 29–30 May 24 16 2 7 2 13 5 8
15 May Impeachment attempt of Boris Yeltsin fails in the State Duma
12 May Sergey Stepashin appointed prime minister
ROMIR[6] 5–15 May 23.6 13.5 1.3 5.4 3.2 13.4 4 10.1
FOM[5] 24-25 Apr 23 13 3 5 3 15 4 8
ROMIR[6] 5–15 Apr 23.4 11.3 3.6 6.6 3.4 15.7 6.1 7.7
FOM[5] 27-28 Mar 24 13 2 5 2 14 5 10
24 Mar PM Primakov cancels visit to the US over Yugoslavia bombings
ROMIR[6] 5–15 Mar 25.5 9.6 0.9 5.2 2.2 13.7 4.4 11.8
FOM[5] 27-28 Feb 26 16 3 4 2 11 5 10
ROMIR[6] 5–15 Feb 23.1 10.6 1 4.7 2.3 11.9 5 11.2
ROMIR[6] 5–15 Jan 1999 22.8 13.6 0.9 3.7 2.5 13.3 4.5 9.2
ROMIR[6] 5–15 Nov 1998 25.1 1.1 3.5 3.6 12.7 8.3 12.4
1995 election 19 Dec 1995 22.3 New New New 11.2 10.1 6.9 New 11.1

Results

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PartyParty-listConstituencyTotal
seats
+/–
Votes%SeatsVotes%Seats
Communist Party16,196,02424.78678,893,54713.7146113–44
Unity15,549,18223.79641,408,8012.17973New
Fatherland – All Russia8,886,75313.59375,469,3898.433168New
Union of Right Forces5,677,2478.68242,016,2943.11529New
Zhirinovsky Bloc3,990,0386.10171,026,6901.58017–34
Yabloko3,955,6116.05163,289,7605.07420–25
Communists and Workers of Russia – for the Soviet Union1,481,8902.270439,7700.6800–1
Women of Russia1,359,0422.080326,8840.5000–3
Party of Pensioners1,298,9711.990480,0870.7411New
Our Home – Russia790,9831.2101,733,2572.6777–48
Russian Party for the Protection of Women536,0220.8200New
Congress of Russian CommunitiesYury Boldyrev Movement405,2980.620461,0690.7111–4
Stalin Bloc – For the USSR404,2740.62064,3460.1000New
For Civil Dignity402,7540.620147,6110.2300New
All-Russian Political Movement in Support of the Army384,4040.590466,1760.7222New
Peace, Labour, May383,3320.590126,4180.1900New
Andrei Nikolayev and Svyatoslav Fyodorov Bloc371,9380.570676,4371.0411New
Party of Peace and Unity247,0410.3800New
Russian All-People's Union245,2660.380700,9761.0822New
Russian Socialist Party156,7090.240662,0301.0211New
Russian Cause111,8020.1701,8460.0000New
Conservative Movement of Russia87,6580.130125,9260.1900New
All-Russian People's Party69,6950.1100New
All-Russian Socio-Political Movement "Spiritual Heritage"67,4170.100594,4260.9211New
Socialist Party of Russia61,6890.09030,0850.0500New
Social-Democrats of Russia50,9480.08018,6180.03000
Russian Ecological Party "Kedr"112,1670.17000
Russian Patriotic Popular Movement10,4810.0200New
Russian Party7,9180.01000
Russian Conservative Party of Entrepreneurs2,6470.0000New
Independents27,877,09542.98105105+28
Against all2,198,7023.367,695,17111.8688
Vacant seats11
Total65,370,690100.0022564,865,922100.002254500
Valid votes65,370,69098.0564,865,92297.84
Invalid/blank votes1,296,9921.951,429,7792.16
Total votes66,667,682100.0066,295,701100.00
Registered voters/turnout108,073,95661.69108,073,95661.34
Source: Nohlen & Stöver, University of Essex

Further reading

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  • Hesli, Vicki L. & William M. Reisinger (2003). The 1999–2000 Elections in Russia: Their Impact and Legacy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-81676-9
reviewed by Luke March in: Slavic Review 63.4 (Winter 2004), 897–898.

Notes

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  1. ^ Right Cause coalition in February–March FOM polls, summary of Right Cause and New Force in April–August FOM polls.
  2. ^ People's Republican Party of Russia of Alexander Lebed

References

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  1. ^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p. 1642 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. ^ a b c d "Сводный рейтинг". panorama.ru.
  3. ^ a b c d "ФОМ №75 Партии в динамике". FOM. Archived from the original on 27 November 1999.
  4. ^ "Рейтинг от АРПИ". panorama.ru.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i "ФОМ №66 Тематические опросы". FOM. Archived from the original on 27 February 2001.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h "Which Party/Movement/Bloc Would You Vote For, If The Election To The State Duma Were Held Tomorrow? (November 1998 – July 1999)". ROMIR. Archived from the original on 31 January 2004.