Chamber:
	Gossoudarstvennaya Duma
Dates of elections / renewal (from/to):
	12 December 1993
Purpose of elections:
	Elections were held for all the seats of the new Parliament constitutionally provided for.
Background and outcome of elections:
	These were the first general elections held after the attainment of sovereignty by the Russian Federation in December 1991. On 21 September 1993, by decree, President of the Federation (since June 1991) Boris Yeltsin suspended the Parliament which had been elected in March 1990 at the time when the Russian Federation was still part of the USSR and called for elections, scheduled for the same day as polling for regional and local councils as well as a referendum on a draft Constitution. This action caused a split in the legislature. Some of its members headed by the President of the Parliament, Mr. Ruslan Khasbulatov, did not accept the decree and continued to sit in the Parliament. In early October, the impasse between Mr. Yeltsin’s administration and his legislative opponents evolved into violent confrontation. Ultimately, on 4 October, the military closed the Parliament and the opponents who had barricaded themselves in the building surrendered. Following these events, the election schedule was maintained. On 10 November, shortly after the deadline for registering candidates had passed, the Electoral Commission announced that a total of 13 parties would contest the seats of the bicameral Federal Assembly. The campaign officially opened on 23 November. The groups in contention could generally be classified into four main blocs with wide-ranging platforms: radical reformers, moderate reformers, conservatives and ultra-nationalists. Altogether more than 2000 individual candidates were in the running. Unlike most candidates for the State Duma, and due to the different nature of the two Houses, the great majority of those for the Federation Council wore no party labels and campaigned primarily on local or regional issues. Final polling results were announced on 25 December, according to which most of the proportional seats in the Duma were won by the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) headed by Mr. Vladimir Zhirinovsky. LDPR and its outspoken, controversial leader, had called especially for a crackdown on crime and held belligerent views on foreign policy. The Russia’s Choice bloc led by First Deputy Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar that stood for radical economic reform and which had received support from President Yelstin although the latter had not formally endorsed any political group, came in second. Voting figures for the 225 majority seats in the Duma nevertheless allowed Russia’s Choice to emerge as the largest single party, with the Communist Party headed by Mr. Guennadi Ziouganov coming in an overall third ahead of the conservative Agrarian Party, associated with the communists. Analysts regarded the extremist parties’ success as representing a backlash by a humiliated and impoverished nation and a challenge to fast-paced reform which had yet to cure economic ills. Subsequently, President Yeltsin expressed his support for Mr. Gaidar and his party. For its part, the draft Constitution, strongly backed by the President, was approved by 58% of the electorate and thus came into force. On 12 January 1994, the inaugural session of the Federal Assembly took place.

STATISTICS

Round no 1 (12 December 1993): Elections results
Number of registered electors	105,200,000 (approx.)
Voters	50%

Round no 1: Distribution of votes
Political Group	Candidates
Russia’s Choice	212
Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR)	156
Communist Party	151
Agrarian Party	145
Yabloko	172
Party of Russian Unity and Accord	193
Women of Russia	36
Democratic Party of Russia	167
Civic Union	184
Movement for Democratic Reforms	153
Dignity and Mercy	58
Future of Russia	95
Independents	n.a.

Round no 1: Distribution of seats
Political Group	Total	Majority	Proportional
Russia’s Choice	96	56	40
Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR)	70	11	59
Communist Party	65	33	32
Agrarian Party	47	26	21
Yabloko	33	13	20
Party of Russian Unity and Accord	27	9	18
Women of Russia	25	4	21
Democratic Party of Russia	21	7	14
Civic Union	18	18	0
Movement for Democratic Reforms	8	8	0
Dignity and Mercy	3	3	0
Future of Russia	1	1	0
Independents	30	30	0

Comments:
	Plus six vacancies due to boycott of poll in Republic of Chechnya and postponement of voting in two other constituencies.

Distribution of seats according to sex:
Men:	388
Women:	60

Distribution of seats according to age:
Under 31 years	19
31-40 years	109
41-50 years	181
51-60 years	108
Over 60 years	31