1. Background

2. Electoral system

3. Parties
    Parties represented in the State Duma  Parties represented in the Regional Parliaments  Public expression of interest 

4. Campaign
    Party of Growth 

5. Opinion polls

6. Footnotes

7. References

Legislative elections will be held in Russia no later than 19 September 2021 to elect the 450 seats the 8th convocation of the State Duma, the lower house of the Federal Assembly. Going into the elections, United Russia is the ruling party after winning the 2016 elections with 54.2% of the vote and 343 seats.

The election day is the third Sunday of the month in which the constitutional term for which the State Duma of the 7th convocation was elected expires. The constitutional term for which the State Duma is elected is calculated from the date of its election. The day of election of the State Duma is the day of voting, as a result of which it was elected in the authorized composition. In case of early dissolution of the State Duma, the President must call snap election. The election day in this case should be the last Sunday before the day when three months from the date of dissolution of the State Duma expire.^[1]

Background

After the 2016 elections, the United Russia party was the most popular party, its rating ranged from 40% to 55%, while the rating of the main opposition parties (Communist and Liberal Democratic parties) almost did not exceed 10%, and the rating of A Just Russia party was less than 5%, this is not enough to go to the state Duma, as the minimum threshold is 5%.

In June 2018, after Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced a reform to raise the retirement age, the rating of the ruling United Russia party fell sharply and currently fluctuates around 35%. At the same time, the Communist Party rating has grown and currently ranges from 15% to 20%. The rating of A Just Russia has also increased, but still it remains relatively small and fluctuates around 5%, which is why the party still risks not to go to the State Duma in the elections. The rating of the liberal democratic party, remains constant and fluctuates around 10%. Among the non-parliamentary parties, there are no parties with a sufficient rating to pass to the State Duma, no party can score more than 1%.

Electoral system

Under current election laws, the State Duma is elected for a term of five years, with parallel voting. Half of the seats (225) are elected by party-list proportional representation with a 5% electoral threshold, with the other half elected in 225 single-member constituencies by first-past-the-post voting.^[2]

In the proportional part, candidates can be nominated only by political parties. The lists of parties must include at least 200 and no more than 400 candidates. The list may also include candidates who are not members of the party, but their number should not exceed 50% of the number of candidates on the list. The party list of candidates should be divided into federal and regional parts. The regional part includes regional groups of candidates corresponding to the group of bordering federal subjects. The number of regional groups must be at least 35. No more than ten candidates may be included in the federal part of the list of candidates. The regional parts of the party list should cover the entire territory of Russia.^[3]

In the majoritarian part, candidates can be nominated both by political parties and in the order of self-nomination. The political party must provide a list of candidates to the Central Election Commission, and the list must contain the name and number of the constituencies in which each candidate will run. Documents of candidates-self-nominees, unlike candidates from political parties, have to submit applications to District Election Commissions.^[4] For registration, the self-nominated candidate must collect at least 3% of the signatures of voters residing in the constituency (or at least 3,000 signatures if the constituency has less than 100,000 voters).^[5]

One and the same candidate can be nominated both in the party list and in the single-member constituency, however, in the case of its passage to the State Duma and the party list and in the single-member constituency, he will need to give up one of the places (usually refuse the seat received on the party list, as in this case the party does not lose this seat and simply will give another candidate).

Parties

As of 15 June 2018, 63 political parties can participate in the elections.^[6] At the same time, parties represented in the State Duma (in this case, the seats must be obtained in the vote on the party list), parties that received more than 3% of the vote in the previous elections or are represented at least in one of the regional parliaments are allowed to contest in the elections without collecting signatures. Other parties need to collect signatures to participate in the elections. The official list of parties entitled to participate in the elections without collection of signatures will be announced before the election, but after the 2018 regional elections, there are only 13 such parties.^[7][8][9]

Parties represented in the State Duma

Parties represented in the Regional Parliaments

Parties represented in regional parliaments, which can also participate in legislative elections without collecting signatures (the list does not include parties already represented in the State Duma).

Public expression of interest

• 2018 presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak has stated that her party will run for State Duma in 2021.^[10] On 15 March 2018, Ksenia Sobchak and Dmitry Gudkov announced the creation of the Party of Changes on the basis of the party Civic Initiative.^[11]
• Businessman Sergei Polonsky, in January 2018, announced his intention to create a political party "For All", with which he intends to participate in the 2021 election.^[12]

Campaign

Party of Growth

On 19 December 2018, the leader of the Party of Growth Boris Titov announced the opening of a federal headquarters "Election–2021", thus the Party of Growth, the beginning of his campaign the very first. The headquarters of the company is located in Miass city of Chelyabinsk Oblast.

According to Titov, the party will focus on elections in single-mandate constituencies, not on party lists. He said: "Today, no slogans, no "locomotives"{{refn|group=b|name=locomotives|Political technology aimed at increasing the number of voters who voted for the list by attracting a candidate with a high political rating (most often governors and mayors of large cities). Such candidate after the announcement of its winner at once refuses a position on which it is elected, without starting work on it. The mandate of the "locomotive" passes his party member, who is usually less known to voters.}} we can't win [...] we can't cover the whole of Russia, so it's easier for us to focus on specific constituencies. We need real candidates who will be known on the ground. And the electorate who will know first of all the person, and not even the "Party of Growth". The party will nominate about 40 candidates in single-member constituencies.

At the same time, the elections to the State Duma will be the final, which will be preceded by elections to municipal and regional legislative bodies until 2021. The deputies elected in the course of them, according to the plan, should form the election headquarters of the main candidates.^[13][14]

Opinion polls

Footnotes

References

• Dama y obrero
• Dama y obrero (American telenovela)
• Dama y obrero (American TV series)
• Dama y obrero (disambiguation)
• Damazer, Mark
• Damba Ayusheev
• Damba Badmayevich Ayusheev
• Dambadarjaagiin Gantulga
• Damba (disambiguation)
• Dambaev, Alexander
• Dambai College of Education
• Damba Island
• Dambajavyn Tsend Ayuush
• Dambajavyn Tsend-Ayuush
• Dambajavyn Tsend–Ayuush
• Dambala Wedo
• Dambana, Sri Lanka
• Dambardut Ta Bhatta
• Dambar Kunwar
• Dambar (name)
• Dambar Singh Kuwar
• Dambaru Sisa
• Dambazawa
• Damba Zhalsarayev
• Dam Başında Oturur