United Russia Sweeps Regional Legislatures, but Faces Difficulties in 2007 Duma Elections

Author(s): Dmitry Vinogradov
Editor(s): Matthias Neumann, Robert Orttung, Jeronim Perovic, Heiko Pleines, Hans-Henning Schröder
Series: Russian Analytical Digest (RAD)
Issue: 1
Pages: 22-23
Publisher(s): Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich; Research Centre for East European Studies, University of Bremen
Publication Year: 2006

On 12 March, Russia held its first unified election day, allowing voters in 68 regions to elect various levels of government simultaneously. Attention focused on the eight regions that elected their parliaments that day, some of them using party lists for the first time. Experts described this voting as an early indicator of the elections for the State Duma that will take place in December 2007. While the pro-Kremlin United Russia party was the top vote-getter in each region, the results suggest that it will have difficulty forming a controlling majority in the federal parliament. The eight regions were: Khanty-Mansy, Gorno-Altai, Kirov, Nizhny Novgorod, Kaliningrad, Kursk, Orenburg, and Adygeya.

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