At stake in this election:

• 450 seats in the State Duma (Gosudarstvennaya Duma)

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Vladimir Vladimirovich PUTIN
• Head of Government: Premier Viktor Alekseyevich ZUBKOV
• Assembly: Russia has a bicameral Federal Assembly (Federalnoye Sobraniye) consisting of the Federation Council (Sovet Federatsii) with 178 seats and the State Duma (Gosudarstvennaya Duma) with 450 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system to serve a 4-year term.
• The Premier is appointed by the President.
• In the Federation Council (Sovet Federatsii) 178 members are appointed by regional governing councils to serve 4-year terms*. In the State Duma (Gosudarstvennaya Duma) 450 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms.**

* Members appointed by the top executive and legislative officials in each of the 89 federal administrative units.

** Seats are allocated using the Hare quota. There is one, nationwide district and a minimum threshold of 7%.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: United Russia Bloc
  • Leader: Boris GRIZLOV
  • Seats won in this State Duma election: 315
  • Seats won in last State Duma election: 222
• Party: The Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF)
  • Leader: Gennadiy Andreyavich ZYUGANOV
  • Seats won in this State Duma election: 57
  • Seats won in last State Duma election: 53
• Party: Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR)
  • Leader: Vladimir Volfovich ZHIRINOVSKIY
  • Seats won in this State Duma election: 40
  • Seats won in last State Duma election: 38
• Party: A Just Russia (JR)
  • Leader: Sergey MIRONOV
  • Seats won in this State Duma election: 38
  • Seats won in last State Duma election: 0

Last Parliamentary election:

• Elections were last held on 7 December 2003. United Russia took 221 seats, the Communist Party won 51, the Liberal Democratic Party and Homeland Union took 37 each, and the People's Party won 16. Additionally, several other parties and independent candidates won seats in this election. 

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 141,377,752 (July 2007 est.)
• Registered Voters: 109,145,517 (December 2007)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 77,180,286 (2003)

·         Is Russia a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (17 July 1980)

·         Has Russia ratified CEDAW: Yes (23 January 1981)

·         Gender Quota: No

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 63 (State Duma) following the 2007 elections

·         Human Development Index Position: 50 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: N/A

Disability Data:

·         Is Russia a signatory to CRPD: Yes (24 September 2008)

·         Has Russia ratified CRPD: Yes (25 September 2012)

·         Population with a disability: 21,206,662 (est.)