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Russia’s Parliamentary and Presidential Elections

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2014

Robert Cottrell
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Extract

In December 1995 General Elections Took Place in Russia for the lower house of parliament, the Duma. In constitutional terms the Duma is a relatively weak body, comparable with the French National Assembly. It initiates and enacts legislation, but must find a two-thirds majority if it is to override a presidential veto. The December elections were, however, of a disproportionate significance. The fact that they were taking place was important in itself. The Duma elected in December 1995 was only the second Duma to be elected in post-Soviet Russia, and the first to be elected in relatively normal circumstances. (The preceding Duma had been elected in 1993 only after President Boris Yeltsin had used tanks against the old Supreme Soviet, created a new parliament almost literally out of its ashes, and legitimized his actions by means of a new constitution approved by a national referendum.)

Type
Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 31 , Issue 2 , April 1996 , pp. 160 - 174
Copyright
Copyright © Government and Opposition Ltd 1996

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References

1 The term ‘parties’ is used here as a shorthand term embracing the various blocks, coalitions, federations and associations competing for seats in the Duma. Of the 43 groups on the ballot paper, only the Communist Party and the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia operated as unified national parties.

2 ‘Communist Party’, here and elsewhere, refers to the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, led by Gennady Zyuganov. It does not refer to other, smaller groups claiming the inheritance of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The fate of one such block, led by Viktor Anpilov, is discussed below.