Legislative elections were held in Russia on 7December 2003.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1642 At stake were the 450 seats in the State Duma (Gosudarstvennaya Duma), the lower house of the Federal Assembly.

As expected, the pro-Vladimir Putin United Russia party received the most votes (38%) and won the most seats, gaining a plurality in the Duma. The Communist Party remained the second largest, though much reduced in strength. The Liberal Democratic Party improved its position by 19 seats, while the liberal Yabloko and the liberal-conservative Union of Right Forces lost most of their seats.

Political parties and blocs

Party or blocLead candidatesPolitical positionIdeology 1 Conceptual Party "Unity" KPE Konstantin Petrov • Vladimir Gribov • Dmitry Poltoratsky Far-right Conspiracy theory / Occultism 2 Union of Right Forces SPS Boris Nemtsov • Irina Khakamada • Anatoly Chubais Centre-right to right-wing Conservative liberalism / Neoliberalism / Atlanticism 3 Russian Party of Pensioners and Party of Social JusticeRPP, PSS RPP–PSS Vladimir Kishenin • Galiya Zelenchukova • Dmitry Senyukov Centre-left Pensioners' interests / Social justice 4 Russian United Democratic Party "Yabloko" Yabloko Grigory Yavlinsky • Vladimir Lukin • Igor Artemyev Centre Social liberalism / Liberal democracy 5 ZRS Sergey Popov • Aleksey Kuimov • Igor Shatalov Right-wing Conservatism / Christian nationalism 6 United Russian Party Rus' ORP Rus' Valery Burkov • Lidia Rusanova • Vladimir Medvedev Right-wing Patriotism / Russian nationalism 7 New Course — Automobile RussiaLiberal Russia, RPRF, NCAR Viktor Pokhmelkin • Boris Fyodorov • Leonid Olshansky Centre-right Liberalism / Drivers' interests 8 People's Republican Party of Russia NRPR Eduard Baltin • Vladimir Kushnerenko • Vitaly Pavlov Right-wing National conservatism / Patriotism / Military interests 9 Russian Ecological Party "The Greens" REPZ Anatoly Panfilov • Viktor Ignatov • Vladimir Yevstafyev Centre Green politics 10 Agrarian Party of Russia APR Mikhail Lapshin • Aleksandr Nazarchuk • Alexey Chepa Left-wing Agrarianism / Agrarian socialism 11 Genuine Patriots of Russia IPR Magomed Radzhabov • Kalsyn Tokayev • Zaur Radzhabov Centre-right Muslim interests 12 People's Party of the Russian Federation NPRF Gennady Raikov • Gennady Troshev • Nikolay Derzhavin Centre-left Populism / Social conservatism 13 Democratic Party of Russia DPR Vladimir Podoprigora • Mikhail Kislyuk • Gennady Pushko Centre-right Liberal conservatism / Federalism / Civic nationalism 14 Great Russia–Eurasian Union, , VR–EAS Pavel Borodin • Ruslan Aushev • Leonid Ivashov Centre-left Eurasian integration / Left-wing populism 15 Union of People for Education and Science SLON Vyacheslav Igrunov • Nurali Latypov • Andrey Sharomov Centre to centre-left Social liberalism / Scientists' interests 16 Rodina (People's Patriotic Union)SEPR, People's Will, Rodina Sergey Glazyev • Dmitry Rogozin • Valentin Varennikov Syncretic Russian nationalism / Social conservatism / Statism 17 Party of Peace and Unity PME Sazhi Umalatova • Viktor Stepanov • Yevgeny Ishchenko Left-wing Soviet patriotism / Eurasianism 18 Liberal Democratic Party of Russia LDPR Vladimir Zhirinovsky • Alexey Ostrovsky • Igor Lebedev Right-wing Right-wing populism / Unitarism / Anti-communism 19 Party of Russia's Rebirth – Russian Party of LifePVR, RPZh PVR–RPZh Gennadiy Seleznyov • Sergey Mironov • Valentina Tereshkova Centre-left Left-wing populism / Welfare state / Social democracy 20 United Russia UR Boris Gryzlov • Sergei Shoigu • Yury Luzhkov Centre-right Statism / Social conservatism / Conservative liberalism 21 Russian Constitutional Democratic Party RKDP Vyacheslav Volkov • Irina Alfyorova • Aleksandr Kotenev Centre-right Constitutionalism 22 Development of Enterprise RP Ivan Grachev • Oksana Dmitriyeva • Andrey Nechayev Centre-right Economic liberalism 23 Communist Party of the Russian Federation CPRF Gennady Zyuganov • Nikolai Kondratenko • Nikolay Kharitonov Left-wing Socialism / Left-wing conservatism

Not on ballot PartyLead candidatesPolitical positionIdeologyNotes All-National Russian Political Party "Union" ORPP Soyuz Aleksandr Kudimov • Dmitry Kaplin • Mikhail Trofimov Centre Protectionism / Welfare state The party did not file paperwork for election. Conservative Party of Russia KPR Yuriy Tegin • Vladimir Burenin • Natalya Korolyova Centre-right Conservatism / Anti-communism The party did not file paperwork for election after a leadership split in October 2003. Liberal Russia (pro-Berezovsky faction) LR Boris Berezovsky • Ivan Rybkin • Yuly Dubov Centre-right Liberalism / Liberal conservatism Federal list of candidates was rejected by the Central Election Commission following a split in party leadership. The commission sided with the anti-Berezovsky faction of Liberal Russia which ran in this election as part of the New Course — Automobile Russia alliance. National Patriotic Forces of the Russian Federation NPS RF Andrey Saltsinov • Schmidt Dzoblayev • Stanislav Terekhov Left-wing Left-wing populism / Multiculturalism / Federalism Federal list of candidates was withdrawn by the party citing concerns about quality of signatures gathered in their support. NPS RF candidates remained on ballot in single-member constituencies.

The following parties only competed in single-member constituencies: People's Patriotic Party of Russia Russian Communist Workers Party–Russian Party of Communists Russian United Industrial Party Russian Party of Labour Russian Political Party "Creation" Social Democratic Party of Russia.

Opinion polls Polling firmFieldwork date Unity OVRCPRFLDPRRodinaYablokoSPSAPROtherUnsureAgainstallWouldn'tvoteLeadUnitedRussiaElection result19 Dec 199923.313.324.35.96.08.513.43.3126 Mar 20002000 Russian presidential election1 May 2000End of the active phase of Second Chechen War, effective Russian victoryVCIOMMay 200026633 4 89 1 9 4 7VCIOM24–27 Nov 200019633788 2 12 4 14FOM2–3 Dec 200016 3 17 3 55 27 5 121FOM10–11 Feb 20011972155 3 3 20 8 82 Apr 2001"Save NTV" protestsFOM14–15 Apr 20011952265 4 2 14 8 153FOM21–22 Apr 200122821 4 85 3 13 7 81FOM2–3 Jun 200123523555 3 16 6 11TieFOM14–15 Jul 2001226235 4 4 2 18 7 91FOM8–9 Sep 200122623 4 5 3 2 20 6 91FOM20–21 Oct 2001256225 4 3 2 18 6 103 1 Dec 2001 United Russia party foundedFOM2–3 Feb 2002212476 4 3 14 10 103FOM20 Jul 200231225 3 3 2 9VCIOM21–27 Aug 20022634986 1 12 5 8FOM12–13 Oct 2002 2623555 2 1 15 6 103 23–26 Oct 2002Nord-Ost Hostage CrisisARPI5–9 Dec 2002372488887132913455212169716VCIOM20–23 Dec 2002 27 27975 2 20 5 TieARPI6–10 Feb 2003302998681012118544515141093ARPI21–25 Feb 200334297859852016454212201094ARPI6–11 Mar 2003323288668Tie2019454291611121ARPI20–24 Mar 200331361063685212344346161092FOM5–6 Apr 2003212255 3 3 1 25 5 111ARPI3–9 Apr 20033534784751231833218198155FOM17 May 2003192175 3 2VCIOM23–26 May 200323281085 7 13 4 5ARPI27 May 200322235 4 5 1 37 3 1VCIOM20–24 Jun 2003262768 3 1 10 16 3 1VCIOM15–18 Aug 20032328965 4 6 12 5 5CSP2–10 Sep 200326.817.07.05.75.6 5.69.8VCIOM-A19–22 Sep 200328235 2 55 2 6 20 5 5FOM11 Oct 200320187 2 4 4 2 4 21 5 132VCIOM-A10–13 Oct 2003 26 26 5 3 5 4 2 4 20 5 Tie 25 Oct 2003Arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, VCIOM-A24–28 Oct 2003 30 23 5 1 4 6 2 5 17 6 7FOM8–9 Nov 200318.716.35.1 1.2 4.2 4.5 6.0 25.6 5.9 12.42.4VCIOM-A13–16 Nov 2003 29 23 8 3 6 6 2 4 14 5 6FOM15–16 Nov 200319.514.96.0 2.9 3.8 4.5 6.2 24.1 5.7 12.24.6VCIOM15–16 Nov 200326.219.65.3 4.1 5.45.5 1.5 6.6 19.8 6.0 6.6FOM22–23 Nov 200325.114.16.5 3.3 2.5 3.5 7.4 22.0 5.4 10.611ARPI27 Nov 20033295 2 4 7 2 7 11 5 1623FOM29–30 Nov 200328.115.87.3 4.4 2.7 3.4 7.3 18.3 5.0 7.912.3

Seat projections Projector Date UnitedRussia CPRF LDPR Yabloko SPS Other NAPP 8 Oct 2003 185 135 21 21 22 66 NAPP 3 Nov 2003 173 108 21 25 20 103 Election result 7 Dec 2003 223 52 36 4 3 132

Exit polls Polling firm UnitedRussia CPRF LDPR Rodina Yabloko SPSAgainstall FOM3613.311.69.25.1 4.7 ROMIR34.113.210.99.55.86.1 6.8Election result37.612.611.59.0 4.3 4.0 4.7

Results

Legacy The 2003 election is cited by scholars as a turning point in Russian politics, as it marked the moment the federal parliament effectively became a rubber stamp body.China Russia Compared wesleyan.edu July 2015

Notes

References

External links Election results – official information