2003 Russian legislative election

Legislative elections were held in Russia on 7 December 2003.^[1] At stake were the 450 seats in the State Duma (Gosudarstvennaya Duma), the lower house of the Federal Assembly.

2003 Russian legislative election

← 1999 7 December 2003 2007 →
All 450 seats in the State Duma 226 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	55.75% ( 6.10 pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Boris Gryzlov Gennady Zyuganov Sergey Glazyev Party United Russia CPRF Rodina Leader since 20 November 2002 14 February 1993 14 September 2003 Leader's seat Federal list Federal list Podolsk Last election New 113 seats, 24.29% New Seats won 223 52 37 Seat change New 61 New Popular vote 22,776,294 7,647,820 5,470,429 Percentage 37.56% (PL) 12.61% (PL) 9.02% (PL) Swing New 11.68% New   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky Gennady Raikov Grigory Yavlinsky Party LDPR NPRF Yabloko Leader since 13 December 1989 29 September 2001 16 October 1993 Leader's seat Federal list Tyumen Federal list (lost) Last election 17 seats, 5.20% New 20 seats, 5.93% Seats won 36 17 4 Seat change 19 New 16 Popular vote 6,944,322 714,705 2,610,087 Percentage 11.35% (PL) 1.18% (PL) 4.30% (PL) Swing 6.15% New 1.63%   Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party   Leader Boris Nemtsov Gennadiy Seleznyov Mikhail Lapshin Party SPS PVR–RPZh APR Leader since 27 May 2001 7 September 2002 26 February 1993 Leader's seat Federal list (lost) Northern SPB Federal list (lost) Last election 29 seats, 8.52% New 11 seats (inside OVR) Seats won 3 3 2 Seat change 26 New 9 Popular vote 2,408,535 1,140,413 2,205,850 Percentage 3.97% (PL) 1.88% (PL) 3.64% (PL) Swing 4.55% New –
Winning party by district (PR)
Chairman of the State Duma before election Gennadiy Seleznyov PVR Elected Chairman of the State Duma Boris Gryzlov United Russia

Distribution of the constituency seats by federal subject.

List

•   United Russia
    People's Party
    Communist Party
    Rodina
    Yabloko
    Party of Rebirth/Party of Life
    Union of Right Forces
    Agrarian Party
    Great Russia
    New Course — Automobile Russia
    Development of Enterprise
    Self-nominations
    Seat not filled

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.

Opinion polls

Polling firm	Fieldwork date	Unity	OVR	CPRF	LDPR	Rodina	Yabloko	SPS	Other	Unsure	Against all	Wouldn't vote	Lead
		United Russia
Election result	19 Dec 1999	23.3	13.3	24.3	5.9	—	6.0	8.5	13.4	—	3.3	—	1
VCIOM	May 2000	26	6	33	4	—	8	9	10[a]	—	4	—	7
VCIOM	24-27 Nov 2000	19	6	33	7	—	8	8	14[b]	—	4	—	14
FOM	2-3 Dec 2000	16	3	17	3	—	5	5	—	27	5	12	1
FOM	10-11 Feb 2001	19	7	21	5	—	5	3	3[c]	20	8	8	2
FOM	14-15 Apr 2001	19	5	22	6	—	5	4	2[d]	14	8	15	3
FOM	21-22 Apr 2001	22	8	21	4	—	8	5	3[c]	13	7	8	1
FOM	2-3 Jun 2001	23	5	23	5	—	5	5	3[c]	16	6	11	Tie
FOM	14-15 Jul 2001	22	6	23	5	—	4	4	2[e]	18	7	9	1
FOM	8-9 Sep 2001	22	6	23	4	—	5	3	2[e]	20	6	9	1
FOM	20-21 Oct 2001	25	6	22	5	—	4	3	2[e]	18	6	10	3
FOM	2-3 Feb 2002	21		24	7	—	6	4	3[c]	14	10	10	3
FOM	20 Jul 2002	31	22	5	—	3	3	2[e]	—	—	—	9
VCIOM	21-27 Aug 2002	26		34	9	—	8	6	13[f]	—	5	—	8
FOM	12-13 Oct 2002	26	23	5	—	5	5	3[g]	15	6	10	3
VCIOM	20-23 Dec 2002	27	27	9	—	7	5	22[h]	—	5	—	Tie
FOM	5-6 Apr 2003	21		22	5	—	5	3	4[i]	25	5	11	1
FOM	17 May 2003	19		21	7	—	5	3	—	—	—	—	2
VCIOM	23-26 May 2003	23		28	10	—	8	5	7	13	4	—	5
VCIOM	20-24 Jun 2003	26		27	6	—	8	3	11[j]	16	3	—	1
VCIOM	15-18 Aug 2003	23		28	9	—	6	5	10[k]	12	5	—	5
VCIOM-A	19-22 Sep 2003	28	23	5	2	5	5	8[l]	20	5	—	5
FOM	11 Oct 2003	20	18	7	2	4	4	6[m]	21	5	13	2
VCIOM-A	10-13 Oct 2003	26	26	5	3	5	4	6[n]	20	5	—	Tie
VCIOM-A	24-28 Oct 2003	30	23	5	1	4	6		17	6	—	7
VCIOM-A	13 Nov 2003	29	23	8	3	6	6		14	5	—	6
FOM	8-9 Nov 2003	18.7	16.3	5.1	1.2	4.2	4.5	6.0	25.6	5.9	12.4	2.4
FOM	15-16 Nov 2003	19.5	14.9	6.0	2.9	3.8	4.5	6.2	24.1	5.7	12.2	4.6
FOM	22-23 Nov 2003	25.1	14.1	6.5	3.3	2.5	3.5	7.4	22.0	5.4	10.6	11
FOM	29-30 Nov 2003	28.1	15.8	7.3	4.4	2.7	3.4	7.3	18.3	5.0	7.9	12.3

Results

Party		Party-list			Constituency			Total seats	+/–
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	United Russia	22,776,294	38.16	120	14,123,625	23.95	103	223	New
	Communist Party	7,647,820	12.81	40	6,577,598	11.15	12	52	−61
	Liberal Democratic Party	6,944,322	11.64	36	1,860,905	3.16	0	36	+19
	National Patriotic Union "Rodina"	5,470,429	9.17	29	1,719,147	2.92	8	37	New
	Yabloko	2,610,087	4.37	0	1,580,629	2.68	4	4	−16
	Union of Right Forces	2,408,535	4.04	0	1,764,290	2.99	3	3	−26
	Agrarian Party	2,205,850	3.70	0	1,104,974	1.87	2	2	New
	Russian Pensioners' Party–Party of Social Justice	1,874,973	3.14	0	342,891	0.58	0	0	−1
	Party of Russia's Rebirth–Russian Party of Life	1,140,413	1.91	0	1,584,904	2.69	3	3	New
	People's Party	714,705	1.20	0	2,677,889	4.54	17	17	New
	Conceptual Party "Unity"	710,721	1.19	0	9,334	0.02	0	0	New
	New Course — Automobile Russia	509,302	0.85	0	222,090	0.38	1	1	New
	For a Holy Russia	298,826	0.50	0	59,986	0.10	0	0	New
	Russian Ecological Party "The Greens"	253,985	0.43	0	69,585	0.12	0	0	0
	Development of Enterprise	212,827	0.36	0	237,527	0.40	1	1	New
	Great Russia – Eurasian Union	170,796	0.29	0	464,602	0.79	1	1	New
	Genuine Patriots of Russia	149,151	0.25	0	2,564	0.00	0	0	New
	Party of Peace and Unity	148,954	0.25	0	10,664	0.02	0	0	0
	United Russian Party Rus'	147,441	0.25	0	570,453	0.97	0	0	New
	Democratic Party	136,295	0.23	0	94,810	0.16	0	0	New
	Russian Constitutional Democratic Party	113,190	0.19	0				0	New
	Union of People for Education and Science	107,448	0.18	0	16,111	0.03	0	0	New
	People's Republican Party	80,420	0.13	0	2,995	0.01	0	0	New
	Other parties				288,866	0.49	0	0	–
	Independents				15,843,626	26.86	67	67	−38
Against all		2,851,958	4.78	–	7,744,998	13.13	–	–	–
Vacant seats							3	3	–
Total		59,684,742	100.00	225	58,975,063	100.00	225	450	0
Valid votes		59,684,742	98.44		58,975,063	97.93
Invalid/blank votes		948,435	1.56		1,247,491	2.07
Total votes		60,633,177	100.00		60,222,554	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		108,906,250	55.67		108,906,250	55.30
Source: Nohlen & Stöver, IPU, 2003 elections[2]

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.^[3][4][5]

Notes

1. Women of Russia 4%, People's Republican Party 2%, APR, NDR, RNE 1%, other 1%.
2. Women of Russia 7%, Russia, APR 2%, People's Republican Party, RNE 1%, NDR <1%, other 1%.
3. APR 3%, other 0%.
4. APR 2%, other 0%.
5. APR 2%.
6. Women of Russia 6%, APR, DPR, RNE, Russia 1%, other 3%.
7. APR 2%, other 1%.
8. Women of Russia 8%, PVR 3%, APR, RNE, RPP, Development of Enterprise 2%, NPRF, Liberal Russia 1%, other 1%.
9. APR 3%, other 1%.
10. PVR, Greens 2%, APR, NPRF, RPP, DPR, RNE, SDPR 1%, other 1%.
11. APR 4%, PVR 3%, Greens, NPRF, RPP 1%, other <1%.
12. APR, Greens 2%, NPRF, PVR-RPZh, DPR 1%, other 1%.
13. APR, PVR-RPZh 2%, NPRF, Great Russia—Eurasian Union 1%, New Cource 0%.
14. APR 2%, Greens, PVR-RPZh, DPR, NPRF 1%.