1995 Russian legislative election

Legislative elections was held in Russia on 17 December 1995 to elect all 450 seats in the 2nd State Duma of the Russian Federation.

The anti-government Communist Party won a total of 157 seats, the most deputies of any single bloc in the chamber. The pro-government Our Home – Russia came second with 55 seats, with the far-right Liberal Democratic Party of Russia falling to third place with 51. As well as the fourth placed Yabloko, only these four parties crossed the 5% threshold to win party-list seats.

Electoral system

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% threshold. Third, on the single-member district ballot, party endorsements of candidates were indicated.

Political blocs

+Political parties and blocs in the 1995 electionДанные протоколов территориальных избирательных комиссий об итогах голосования по федеральному округуBlocFirst troikaPolitical positionIdeologies1 Women of RussiaZhRAlevtina Fedulova • Ekaterina Lakhova • Galina KlimantovaCentreWomen's rights / Pacifism2 Social Patriotic Movement "Derzhava"DerzhavaAlexander Rutskoy • Viktor Kobelev • Konstantin DushenovRight-wingRussian nationalism / Social conservatism3 Social Political Movement "Duma-96"Duma-96Vladimir Burenin • Mikhail Simonov • Georgy KondratyevCentreCentrism / Conservatism4 Transformation of the FatherlandTransformation of the Fatherland, Free Democratic Party, All-Russian Party for Safety of ManPOEduard Rossel • Yury Nozhikov • Viktor Yakimov • Marina SalyeCentreRegionalism / Autonomism5 Tikhonov–Tupolev–TikhonovConsolidation Party, League of Cooperatives and EntrepreneursTTTAlexander Tikhonov • Aleksey Tupolev • Viktor TikhonovCentreCentrism6 Russian All-People's MovementRODAlexander Bozhenov • Valery Moshnyakov • Vladimir PlatonovCentreCossacks interests7 All-Russian Muslim Social Movement "Nur"NURHalit Yakhin • Vafa Yarullin • Anver ShagidullinCentreMuslim interests / Islamic democracy8 Federal Democratic MovementFDDOleg Novikov • Oleg Kalugin • Rimma KazakovaCentreFederalism9 Cause of Peter the FirstTourist and Sports Union of Russia, Union of TV and Radio Broadcasting Workers, Consumer Society of Automobile EquipmentDPP Valentin Dikul • Vadim Voevodin • Yan KoltunovRight-wingNational conservatism / Monarchism10 Interethnic UnionCongress of Civic Concord, , Association of Koreans in RussiaMNS Abdulah Mikitaev • Makhmut Gareev • Alexander ZaytsevCentreMulticulturalism11 Socio-Political Movement "Stable Russia"SR Oleg Petrov • Elina Bystritskaya • Alexander GorlovCentre-rightConservatism12 Frontier GenerationsSocio-Political Youth Movement, MZhK Union of RussiaPR Dmitry Solonnikov • Nikolay Pelepeshin • Marat BarievCentreYouth politics13 My FatherlandMO Boris Gromov • Stanislav Shatalin • Joseph KobzonCentre-leftSocial democracy14 For the Motherland!, , New RussiaZR Vladimir Polevanov • Yevgeny Podkolzin • Eduard BaltinRight-wingConservatism / Anti-Reformism15 Common CauseCommon Cause, Human CircleOD Irina Khakamada • Rolan Bykov • Vladimir DzhanibekovCentre-rightLiberalism16 Bloc of Independents, All-Russian Tatar Cultural and Educational CenterBN Yevgeny Fyodorov • Ilya Roitman • Vladimir KomchatovCentre-rightConservatism17 Our Home – RussiaNDR Viktor Chernomyrdin • Nikita Mikhalkov • Lev RokhlinCentre-rightLiberal conservatism / Fiscal conservatism18 Pamfilova–Gurov–LysenkoRPRF, Young Republicans UnionPGL Ella Pamfilova • Alexander Gurov • Vladimir LysenkoCentre-rightClassical liberalism / Atlanticism19 "Yabloko" Social AssociationYablokoGrigory Yavlinsky • Vladimir Lukin • Tatiana YaryginaCentre-leftSocial democracy / Social liberalism20 Forward, Russia!VRBoris Fyodorov • Bela Denisenko • Alexander VladislavlevCentre-rightLiberal democracy / Liberal conservatism21 89 Regions of Russia, 89Pavel Medvedev (only elected deputy)CentreRegionalism22 Ecological Party of Russia "KEDR"KEDRAnatoly Panfilov • Leonid Yakubovich • Artyom TarasovCentreGreen politics / Agrarianism23 Democratic Choice of Russia – United DemocratsDVR, KPR, RPSD, DVR-ODYegor Gaidar • Sergei Kovalev • Lidiya Fedoseyeva-ShukshinaCentre-rightLiberal conservatism / Anti-communism24 Party of Russian Unity and AccordPRESSergey Shakhray • Valery Bykov • Vladimir IvankovCentre-rightModerate liberalism / Conservatism / Regionalism25 Communist Party of the Russian FederationCPRFGennady Zyuganov • Svetlana Goryacheva • Aman TuleyevLeft-wing to far-leftCommunism / Marxism–Leninism / Left-wing nationalism26 Stanislav Govorukhin BlocAll-Russian Trade Union Association, People's Alliance, BSGStanislav Govorukhin • Oleg Rumyantsev • Viktor AksyuchitsRight-wingStatism / Conservatism27 Association of Lawyers of RussiaAARAlexey Malayev • Gasan Mirzoyev • Anatoly FedoseevCentreRule of law28 National Republican Party of RussiaNRPRNikolay Lysenko • Nikolay Pavlov • Konstantin OvchinnikovFar-rightSolzhenitsynism / Russian ultranationalism29 Social Democrats, Young Social Democrats of Russia, RDDRSDGavriil Popov • Vasily Lipitsky • Oleg BogomolovCentre-leftSocial democracy30 Power to the People!ROS, Mothers for Social JusticeV–N!Nikolai Ryzhkov • Sergey Baburin • Elena ShuvalovaRight-wingPatriotism / Social conservatism / Pochvennichestvo31 Congress of Russian CommunitiesKROYury Skokov • Alexander Lebed • Sergey GlazyevRight-wing to far-rightRussian nationalism / National conservatism32 Trade Unions and Industrialists – Union of LabourROPP, Trade Unions of Russia to the PollsSTVladimir Scherbakov • Mikhail Shmakov • Arkady VolskyCentre-leftLabourism / Industrialism33 Liberal Democratic Party of RussiaLDPRVladimir Zhirinovsky • Sergey Abeltsev • Alexander VengerovskyRight-wing to far-rightRight-wing populism / Pan-Slavism34 Bloc of DjunaAssociation of Military Journalists, , , DjunaEugenia Davitashvili • Andrey Volkov • Aleksandr Pankratov-ChyornyCentrePopulism35 Party of Workers' Self-GovernmentPSTSvyatoslav Fyodorov • Alexey Kazannik • Aleksandr PorokhovshchikovCentre-leftSocial democracy36 Communists – Labour Russia – For the Soviet UnionRKRP, K–TRViktor Tyulkin • Anatoly Kryuchkov • Viktor AnpilovFar-leftCommunism / Marxism–Leninism / Anti-revisionism37 Beer Lovers PartyPLPKonstantin Kalachyov • Dmitry Shestakov • Andrey PalchevskyBig tentJoke party / Protectionism / Anti-establishment38 Ivan Rybkin Bloc"Russia" People's Movement, Regions of Russia, , Accord Movement, Union of RealistsBIRIvan Rybkin • Yury Petrov • Artur ChilingarovCentre-leftAgrarianism / Social democracy39 Party of Economic FreedomPESKonstantin Borovoi • Leonid Nekrasov • Vladimir KovalyonokCentre-rightLiberalism / Neoconservatism / Economic liberalism40 People's UnionNSVladimir Lukyanov • Dmitry Galagan • Gennady MironovBig tentInterests of defrauded depositors41 Agrarian Party of RussiaAPRMikhail Lapshin • Aleksandr Nazarchuk • Vasily StarodubtsevLeft-wingAgrarian socialism / Collectivism42 Christian Democratic Union – Christians of RussiaHDSVitaly Savitsky • Tatiana Ivanova • Alexander KisilyovCentre-rightChristian democracy43 Union of Workers of Housing and Communal ServicesSRZhKKhLeonid Chernyshov • Pyotr Surov • Valery AvdeyevBig tentZhKKh workers' interests

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 1995. 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 – 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 federal center and regional elites made only ephemeral commitments to Our Home – Russia.

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 17 January 1996, Gennady Seleznyov, a deputy of the Communist Party in the Duma, was elected the Speaker of the Duma.

Opinion polls Polling firmFieldwork dateCPRFLDPRNDR YablokoZhRKRODVR–ODAPRPSTVR!DerzhavaOtherUnsureNotvotingAdditionaloptionsFOM June 1995 8 5 4 7 4 4 3 3 3 4 1 48 FOM July 1995 7 4 5 8 4 5 3 2 4 5 1 49 VCIOM July 19958.08.78.2 3.7 3.7 1.9 5.0 2.4 4.1 1.3 29.6 18.4 FOM September 1995105667 4 VCIOM 15–19 Sep 199596585 2 3 3 4 2 2 0.4 20 17 Vox Populi 9 Oct 199514 2.4 1087 2.5 4.6 1.8 4 Rossiskiye Vesti 22 Nov 199514 4 5855 3 2 VCIOM 1 Dec 19952311.513.113.113.1FOM December 199517 3 556 2 2 3 2 2 2 <1 20 15 Vox Populi 9 Dec 199522.95.710.99.56.5VCIOM 6–12 Dec 199513.77.66.76.56.6ISSP n/a17.3 4.2 4.6 5.3 3.8 2.4 2.2 2.8 3.7 3.7

Results

Parliamentary groups

Parliamentary groupLeaderSeats (Jan.'96)Communist Party of the Russian FederationGennady Zyuganov139Our Home – RussiaSergey Belyaev65Liberal Democratic Party of RussiaVladimir Zhirinovsky49YablokoGrigory Yavlinsky45"Regions of Russia (Independent Deputies)"Oleg Morozov44People's Power (Narodovlastie)Nikolai Ryzhkov41 Agrarian GroupNikolay Kharitonov35Democratic Choice of Russia (unregistered)Sergey Yushenkov6Independents19 Total450

Notes

References

Sources