State Duma

State Duma Государственная дума (Russian) Gosudarstvennaya duma
7th State Duma
Type
Type	Lower House of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation
Leadership
Chairman	Vyacheslav Volodin, United Russia since 5 October 2016
First Deputy Chairmen	Alexander Zhukov, United Russia since 5 October 2016
	Ivan Melnikov, Communist Party since 5 October 2016
Structure
Seats	450
Political groups	Government (339)      United Russia (339)[A 1] Opposition (107)      Communist Party (43)      Liberal Democratic Party (39)      A Just Russia (23)      Civic Platform (1)      Rodina (1) Vacant (4)      Vacant[1][2][3][4]
Elections
Voting system	Parallel voting with 5% threshold (1993-2003 elections and since 2016 elections[5]) Party-list proportional representation with 7% threshold (2007 and 2011 elections)
Last election	18 September 2016
Next election	September 2021
Meeting place
State Duma Building 1 Okhotny Ryad Street, Moscow
Website
www.duma.gov.ru

The State Duma (Russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, tr. Gosudárstvennaya dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma (Russian: Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house is the Council of the Federation. The Duma headquarters are located in central Moscow, a few steps from Manege Square. Its members are referred to as deputies. The State Duma replaced the Supreme Soviet as a result of the new constitution introduced by Boris Yeltsin in the aftermath of the Russian constitutional crisis of 1993, and approved by the Russian public in a referendum.

History[edit]

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The State Duma was founded in 1905 after the violence and upheaval in the Russian Revolution of 1905 and was Russia's first elected parliament. The first two attempts by Tsar Nicholas II (1868-1918) to make it active were ineffective. Subsequently, each of these Dumas was dissolved after only a few months. The third Duma was the only one to last until the end of its five-year term. After the 1907 electoral reform, the third Duma, elected in November 1907, was largely made up of members of the upper classes, as radical influences in the Duma had almost entirely been removed. The establishment of the Duma after the 1905 Revolution was to herald significant changes to the previous Russian Imperial autocratic system. Furthermore, the Duma was later to have an important effect on Russian history, as it was one of the contributing factors in the February Revolution of 1917, the first of two that year, which led to the abolition of autocracy in Russia and the overthrow of the Tsar.

Several generations and 75 years later after another revolutionary era, in the December 1993 elections pro-Yeltsin parties won 175 seats in the Duma versus 125 seats for the left bloc. The balance of power lay with the sixty-four deputies of the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. Only parties that won more than five percent of the vote were given party-list seats: eight passed the threshold in 1993. In addition to those eight parties, a pool of thirty-five deputies was entitled to form a registered group to reflect regional or sectoral interests. Business was governed by a steering committee, the Duma Council, consisting of one person from each party or group. The most important task was dividing up the chair positions in the Duma's twenty-three committees, which was done as part of a power-sharing "package" deal.

Despite the fact that the 1993 Russian Constitution states that the State Duma is elected for four years, it was decided to elect the first State Duma for two years.^[6]

During the second half of the 1990s, the Duma became an important forum for lobbying by regional leaders and businessmen looking for tax breaks and legislative favors. The work of the leading committees, such as those for defense, foreign affairs, or budget, attracted a good deal of media attention and lobbying activity.

In the early 2000s, following the 1999 parliamentary elections, the pro-presidential Unity party and the Communist Party were the leading forces in the State Duma.

After the 2003 elections, a Dominant-party system was established in the State Duma with the pro-presidential United Russia party. In all subsequent elections, United Russia has always received an absolute majority of seats (more than 226). After the 2007 elections, a four-party system was formed with a United Russia, Communist Party, Liberal Democratic Party and A Just Russia. Other parties could not get enough votes to go to the State Duma. Only in 2016 elections, two other parties, Rodina and the Civic Platform, were able to get one seat.

In 2008, after the adoption of amendments to the Constitution, the term of the State Duma was increased from four to five years.

A 2016 exposé by Dissernet showed that one in nine members of the State Duma had obtained academic degrees with theses that were substantially plagiarized and likely ghostwritten.^[7]

In 2018, it became known that the State Duma Building will be reconstructed. In March 2019 it became known that the repair will begin in May 2019 and will end in September 2020. During this period, the State Duma will temporarily be located in the House of Unions. In addition, a draft of a new conference room, which would be an amphitheatre, was presented.^[8][9][10]

Powers[edit]

The State Duma has special powers enumerated by the Constitution of Russia. They are:

• Consent to the appointment of the Prime Minister of Russia.
• Hearing annual reports from the Government of the Russian Federation on the results of its work, including on issues raised by the State Duma.
• Deciding the issue of confidence in the Government of the Russian Federation.
• Appointment and dismissal of the Chairman of the Central Bank of Russia.
• Appointment and dismissal of the Chairman and half of the auditors of the Accounts Chamber.
• Appointment and dismissal of the Commissioner for Human rights, who shall act according to federal constitutional law.
• Announcement of amnesty.
• Bringing charges against the President of the Russian Federation for his impeachment (requires a two-thirds majority).

The State Duma adopts decrees on issues relating to its authority by the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

Procedure[edit]

Voting Device.

Decrees of the State Duma are adopted by a majority of the total number of deputies of the State Duma, unless another procedure is envisaged by the Constitution. All bills are first approved by the State Duma and are further debated and approved (or rejected) by the Federation Council.

Relatively few roll call votes have been published that identify individual deputies' votes.^[11] The votes of individuals are recorded only if the voting is open and the electronic method is used.^[11] While not all votes are officially roll call votes, every time a deputy electronically votes a computer registers the individual deputy's vote.^[12]

Organization[edit]

Committees[edit]

Duma Building on Manege square.

The State Duma forms committees and commissions. Committees are the main organs of the House involved in the legislative process. They are formed, as a rule, according to the principle of proportional representation of parliamentary associations. Chairmen of committees and their first deputies and deputies are elected by a majority vote of all deputies of the parliamentary representation of associations.

The main structural units of the State Duma are committees, each having a different sphere of responsibilities. Duma committees are formed for the duration of the current Duma itself. There are currently 26 committees in the 7th State Duma. Their areas of authority include:^{[citation needed]}

• Proposing to build an exemplary program of legislative work of the State Duma for the current session calendar and address the issues of the State Duma for the next month;
• Implement prior review of bills and preparing them for consideration by the State Duma.
• Preparation of draft regulations of the State Duma.
• Preparation of opinions on draft laws and draft resolutions brought before the State Duma.
• Training in accordance with the decision of the House requests the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation.
• In accordance with the decision of the Council of the State Duma, State Duma Chairman requested preparation of draft regulations of the State Council to send representatives to the State Duma of the Constitutional Court of Russia.
• Organization of the parliamentary hearings.
• Opinions and proposals on appropriate sections of the draft federal budget.
• Analysis of the practice of law.

List of Committees (September 2018)

• Agrarian Issues
• Budget and Taxes
• CIS, Eurasian Integration and Russian Diaspora Relations
• Civil Society, Public and Religious Organizations
• Culture
• Defense
• Duma Organization and Regulation
• Economic Policy, Industry, innovation, and Entrepreneurship
• Education and Science  
• Energy
• Environment
• Family, Women and Children Affairs
• Federal Affairs and Regional Self-Governance
• Financial Market
• Healthcare
• Housing Policy and Communal Services
• Information Policy, IT and Communications
• International Affairs
• Labor, Social Policy and Veterans Affairs  
• National Security and Corruption
• Nationalities
• Natural Resources, Property and Land
• Regional, North and Far East Affairs
• Physical Culture, Sports, Tourism, and Youth
• State Building and Legislation
• Transport and Construction

Commissions[edit]

Identity card of a Deputy of the State Duma (6th convocation: 2011–16)

The State Duma commissions are formed in the cases and manner prescribed by law. Commissions are formed for a period not exceeding the term of the Duma of the convocation. In the 5th convocation of the State Duma, there were five committees:

• Commission mandated Affairs and Parliamentary Ethics
• Accounts Commission
• Commission for consideration of the federal budget to ensure the defense and national security of the Russian Federation
• Commission for legislative support of anti-corruption
• Commission for legislative support of activity of natural monopolies and state corporations and commercial organizations with state participation

Membership[edit]

Any Russian citizen who is age 21 or older is eligible to participate in the election may be elected deputy to the State Duma.^[13] However, that same person may not be a deputy to the Federation Council. In addition, a State Duma deputy cannot hold office in any other representative body of state power or bodies of local self-government. The office as deputy of the State Duma is a full-time and professional position.^[14] Thus, deputies to the State Duma may not be employed in the civil service or engage in any activities for remuneration other than teaching, research or other creative activities.

List of the State Duma convocations[edit]

Chairmen of the State Duma[edit]

Vyacheslav Volodin with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in the State Duma, 21 June 2018

• Ivan Rybkin (1994–1996)
• Gennadiy Seleznyov (1996–2003)
• Boris Gryzlov (2003–2011)
• Sergey Naryshkin (2011–2016)
• Vyacheslav Volodin (since 2016)

Latest election[edit]

Party		PR				Constituency			Total result
		Votes	%	±pp	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Seats	+/–
	United Russia	28,527,828	54.20	4.87	140	25,162,770	48.42	203	343	+105
	Communist Party of the Russian Federation	7,019,752	13.34	5.85	35	6,492,145	12.93	7	42	–50
	Liberal Democratic Party of Russia	6,917,063	13.14	1.47	34	5,064,794	9.75	5	39	–17
	A Just Russia	3,275,053	6.22	7.02	16	5,017,645	9.66	7	23	–41
	Communists of Russia	1,192,595	2.27	N/A	0	1,847,824	3.56	0	0	+0
	Yabloko	1,051,335	1.99	1.44	0	1,323,793	2.55	0	0	+0
	Russian Party of Pensioners for Justice	910,848	1.73	N/A[15]	0	No SMC				+0
	Rodina	792,226	1.51	N/A[16]	0	1,241,642	2.39	1	1	+1
	Party of Growth	679,030	1.29	0.69	0	1,171,259	2.25	0		+0
	The Greens	399,429	0.76	N/A[17]	0	770,076	1.48	0		+0
	People's Freedom Party	384,675	0.73	N/A[18]	0	530,862	1.02	0		+0
	Patriots of Russia	310,015	0.59	0.38	0	704 197	1.36	0		+0
	Civic Platform	115,433	0.22	N/A	0	364,100	0.70	1	1	+1
	Civilian Power	73,971	0.14	N/A	0	79,922	0.15	0		+0
	Independent	No Party list				429,051	0.83	1	1	+1
Invalid/blank votes		982,596	1.87	–0.30		1,767,725	3.40	–	–	–
Total		52,700,922	100	0.00	225	51,967,805	100	225	450	0
Registered voters/turnout		110,061,200	47.88	0.00		109,636,794	47.40
Source: CIKRF

By-elections[edit]

Three seats are vacant as of February 2019.

Presidential envoys to the State Duma[edit]

• Alexander Yakovlev (February 18, 1994 – February 10, 1996)
• Alexander Kotenkov (February 10, 1996 – April 5, 2004)
• Alexander Kosopkin (April 5, 2004 – January 9, 2009)
• Garry Minkh (since February 10, 2009)

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Official website (in Russian)

Coordinates: 55°45′27″N 37°36′55″E / 55.75750°N 37.61528°E / 55.75750; 37.61528