2016 Russian legislative election


Legislative elections were held in Russia on 18 September 2016, having been brought forward from 4 December. At stake were the 450 seats in the State Duma of the 7th convocation, the lower house of the Federal Assembly. Prior to the election United Russia had been the ruling party since winning the 2011 elections with 49.32% of the vote, and taking 238 seats of the seats in the State Duma.
Prior to the election, observers expected that turnout would be low and called the election campaign the dullest in recent memory.
109,820,679 voters were registered in the Russian Federation on 1 January 2016. Taking into account people registered outside the Russian Federation and the voters in Baikonur, the total number of eligible voters for 1 January 2016 was 111,724,534. The vote had a record low turnout of 47.88%, with just 28% of Muscovites casting their votes before 6pm.

Background

Although the elections had been planned for 4 December 2016, deputies discussed the issue of rescheduling to an earlier date since the spring of 2015, with the second and third Sundays of September or October 2016 as possible alternatives. On 1 July 2015 the Constitutional Court of Russia accepted the possibility of conducting early elections to the Duma in 2016 under certain conditions. According to the Court, the constitution does not require the election date to be exactly five years after the previous elections and the election date can be shifted if the following conditions are met:
On 19 June 2015 the State Duma approved the first reading of a bill to bring the election to the State Duma forward from 4 December 2016 to the third Sunday of September 2016. The corresponding bill was adopted by the State Duma on the second and third reading with 339 deputies in favour and 102 against, with no abstentions. The document was put together by the speaker of the Duma, Sergei Naryshkin, and the three leaders of the Duma factions, Vladimir Vasilyev, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, and Sergei Mironov. The initiative to transfer the date of elections had not been supported by the deputies of the Communist Party, who called it an unconstitutional decision. Earlier, a similar opinion was expressed by the leader of the Communist Party, Gennady Zyuganov. The September elections were not satisfactory to the Communists in part because the debate fell in August, "when one will be in the garden, the latter on the beach, others with their children" said Zyuganov. The Russian government supported the bill.
On 17 June 2016 President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the appointment of the State Duma elections on 18 September 2016. From that day parties had the right to start the nomination process for deputies to hold congresses and transmit documents of candidates to the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation for registration.
For the first time since the controversial and unilateral 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, Crimean voters could vote in a Russian general election. Ukraine strongly condemned the vote. Various countries did not recognize the legitimacy of the election in Crimea. According to Russia correspondent for Al Jazeera English Rory Challands, "Despite many Crimeans voting in Russian elections for 1st time, there's little excitement. Main sentiments so far are apathy and cynicism." Scuffles between police and Ukrainian nationalists were reported near polling stations for Russian citizens in Kiev and Odessa.
In Syria, 4,751 Russian citizens voted.

Electoral system

The State Duma is elected on a single election day for a term of five years, with parallel voting that was used between 1993 and 2003.
Out of 450 seats, 225 are elected by proportional representation from party lists with a 5% electoral threshold, the whole country forming a single constituency. Each political party should adopt a party list which should be divided into a federal part and regional groups. The federal part should have from 1 to 10 candidates, with the rest of the party list candidates comprising the regional groups. There should be at least 35 regional groups. Total number of candidates in a party list should be between 200 and 400.
Seats are allocated using Hare quota and largest remainder method.
The other 225 seats are elected in single-member constituencies using the first-past-the-post system.

Chronology

On 17 June, President Vladimir Putin set the date of the election as 18 September 2016. On 20 June the Central Election Commission approved the calendar of the election campaign.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe published its full report of the election on 23 December 2016. It noted many problems with the election, such as the lack of "clear political alternatives voters' choice", over-regulation of the registration of political parties, lack of proper conduct during counting of votes, voters not folding their ballots on 70% of occasions and lack of transparency of campaign finance.

Participating parties

The Central Election Commission determined that 14 political parties could submit lists of candidates without collecting signatures. Whilst other parties were required to present at least 200,000 signatures.

Parties that participated in the election

Fourteen parties were registered to participate in the election. These are the same fourteen parties that did not have to collect signatures in order to participate. None of the parties tasked with collecting signatures were registered on the ballot due to various violations or failure to submit documents.

Parties that did not participate in the election

Single-member constituencies

In 225 single-member constituencies, candidates could be nominated by a party, or be self-nominated.

Opinion polls

Exit polls

Results

United Russia won a supermajority of seats, allowing them to change the Constitution without the votes of other parties. Turnout was reported as low. Throughout the day there were reports of voting fraud including video purporting to show officials stuffing ballot boxes. Additionally, results in many regions demonstrate that United Russia on many poll stations got anomalously close results, for example, 62.2% in more than hundred poll stations in Saratov Oblast. This suggests that the results in these regions likely have been rigged. The government said there was no evidence of any large scale cheating. However, on 22 September the Central Electoral Committee canceled the results in seven constituencies, where the number of used ballots exceeded the number of registered voters, or where the authorities were videotaped stuffing the ballots. According to research by University of Michigan political scientists Kirill Kalinin and Walter R. Mebane, Jr., the election results are fraudulent.

By region

The breakdown of the party-list results by region is as follows:
RegionJRCPlCPoCPRFCoRLDPRPoGPoRPARNASRodinaRPPJGreensURYablokoTurnoutInvalid ballots
Adygea4.83%0.13%0.10%13.37%2.23%12.66%0.69%0.24%0.33%1.13%1.35%0.65%59.45%0.89%53.9%
Altai Krai13.78%0.15%0.15%17.25%3.66%19.82%0.84%0.30%0.60%1.15%1.76%0.71%35.19%2.03%40.7%
Altai Republic4.10%0.11%0.14%18.89%2.69%12.73%0.52%0.69%0.94%5.66%1.36%0.55%48.81%0.81%45.1%
Amur Oblast4.15%0.19%0.17%16.62%2.49%29.02%0.63%0.52%0.45%1.28%2.54%0.72%37.91%0.91%42.4%
Arkhangelsk Oblast9.17%0.17%0.13%12.78%1.97%19.73%1.21%0.45%0.83%1.62%2.99%0.86%44.48%2%36.5%
Astrakhan Oblast17.56%0.19%0.17%14.18%3.31%13.13%0.89%0.38%0.73%1.10%1.57%0.64%42.22%0.99%36.9%
Baikonur2.42%0.16%0.14%11.98%1.65%29.73%0.79%0.59%0.70%1.94%2.70%0.99%42.64%1.03%43.1%
Bashkortostan6.88%0.30%0.14%18.62%1.84%11.29%0.36%0.39%0.21%0.69%0.99%0.51%56.37%0.52%69.7%
Belgorod Oblast7.01%0.20%0.12%14.93%1.94%13.73%0.67%0.29%0.44%1.20%1.73%0.68%54.73%0.78%62.1%
Bryansk Oblast3.48%0.19%0.10%13.29%1.83%10.80%0.54%0.32%0.38%1.43%1.26%0.44%63.91%0.76%55.1%
Buryatia6.55%0.82%0.14%20.59%2.87%13.54%3.90%0.40%0.52%0.83%2.19%0.57%43.34%1.17%40.5%
Chechnya1.12%0.02%0.07%0.02%0.96%0.01%0.16%0.36%0.01%0.26%0.11%0.53%96.29%0.03%94.9%
Chelyabinsk Oblast17.48%0.2%0.15%12.02%2.43%16.73%1.23%0.48%0.94%1.80%2.34%1.07%38.19%2.14%44.4%
Chukotka Autonomous Okrug3.13%0.19%0.13%7.76%1.62%17.34%0.70%0.48%0.39%1.21%2.17%0.81%58.8%0.80%64.5%
Chuvashia10.69%0.31%0.18%13.42%1.94%11.72%0.77%0.60%0.63%1.02%2.78%1.01%50.92%1.01%59.3%
2.06%0.20%0.09%5.60%1.26%11.14%0.41%0.26%0.54%1.39%1.07%0.69%72.80%0.68%49.1%
Dagestan2.20%0.07%0.08%5.35%0.37%0.52%0.47%0.53%0.07%0.32%0.25%0.17%88.90%0.15%88.1%
Ingushetia9.57%0.22%0.54%5.65%0.20%1.65%2.14%2.20%0.06%3.85%0.11%0.88%72.41%0.20%81.4%
Irkutsk Oblast5.19%0.30%0.13%24.08%3.09%17.01%1.25%0.87%0.48%1.46%1.95%0.89%39.77%1.43%34.6%
Ivanovo Oblast7.31%0.23%0.10%18.08%3.07%17.67%1.09%0.55%0.94%1.48%2.53%0.94%42.38%2.02%38.5%
Jewish Autonomous Oblast2.80%0.16%0.14%17.11%3.31%21.90%0.65%0.43%0.45%0.98%1.94%0.65%45.03%0.93%39.6%
Kabardino-Balkaria2.09%0.01%0.01%18.90%0.11%0.15%0.24%0.11%0.01%0.06%0.02%0.54%77.71%0.04%90.1%
Kaliningrad Oblast5.62%0.21%0.14%13.99%2.76%16.60%2.30%3.42%1.04%2.03%2.21%0.81%43.39%2.37%44.0%
Kalmykia3.18%0.27%0.11%11.69%1.56%4.29%0.58%2.31%0.34%0.50%1.24%0.42%70.61%1.42%57.5%
Kaluga Oblast6.21%0.17%0.13%15.95%2.40%17.38%1.33%0.60%0.86%1.87%2.41%0.91%45.75%2.21%43.1%
Kamchatka Krai4.42%0.22%0.17%12.59%2.54%21.31%1.26%0.74%0.54%1.42%2.37%0.98%46.70%1.40%39.5%
Karachay-Cherkessia1.07%0.10%0.05%7.97%6.59%0.64%0.20%0.65%0.40%0.20%0.11%0.10%81.67%0.40%93.3%
Karelia10.09%0.30%0.13%13.05%2.56%17.57%1.66%0.90%0.82%1.42%2.32%0.95%37.30%7.80%39.6%
Kemerovo Oblast4.51%0.10%0.09%7.21%0.60%7.72%0.15%0.49%0.16%0.23%0.35%0.17%77.33%0.44%86.7%
Khabarovsk Krai4.52%0.23%0.17%16.46%3.31%25.01%1.11%0.42%1.13%1.60%2.99%1.22%37.31%1.85%36.9%
Khakassia7.17%0.17%0.14%20.90%3.49%19.52%0.86%0.76%0.70%1.32%2.09%1.03%38.06%1.44%39.4%
Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug5.57%0.22%0.15%9.69%2.15%22.31%1.03%0.59%0.62%2.25%2.17%0.77%47.61%1.13%39.2%
Kirov Oblast9.46%0.23%0.16%13.58%2.64%24.94%1.40%0.36%0.56%1.43%2.38%0.74%37.96%1.63%41.9%
Komi Republic8.82%0.25%0.22%12.49%3.67%22.59%1.23%0.69%0.85%1.86%3.51%1.12%37.85%1.76%40.7%
Kostroma Oblast8.05%0.15%0.10%21.40%3.17%18.85%1.32%0.30%0.81%2.73%2.32%0.74%36.56%1.77%39.4%
Krasnodar Krai3.69%0.19%0.14%12.63%1.98%13.76%1.21%0.42%0.54%1.55%1.62%0.61%59.30%0.97%51.2%
Krasnoyarsk Krai4.86%0.26%0.16%14.41%3.06%20.26%1.02%5.13%0.77%1.84%2.20%1.15%40.45%1.57%36.6%
Kurgan Oblast13.79%0.14%0.11%14.56%3.03%18.83%0.66%0.42%0.51%1.40%1.93%0.60%41.51%0.96%41.8%
Kursk Oblast4.55%0.21%0.13%12.83%3.55%15.66%0.74%2.61%0.55%1.24%1.62%0.92%51.70%1.28%47.0%
Leningrad Oblast9.61%0.23%0.14%10.37%2.22%13.30%2.46%0.37%0.95%1.81%2.13%0.90%50.04%2.57%44.1%
Lipetsk Oblast5.96%0.15%0.11%13.68%1.99%12.33%0.69%0.45%0.51%1.80%2.50%0.49%56.19%1.20%52.6%
Magadan Oblast7.72%0.35%0.10%14.84%2.74%19.15%1.22%0.48%0.64%1.26%2.51%0.87%44.69%1.08%40.5%
Mari El4.60%0.21%0.10%27.28%4.11%10.44%0.55%0.24%0.42%0.96%1.23%0.60%46.70%0.86%53.3%
Mordovia2.49%0.06%0.05%5.16%0.60%5.19%0.18%0.20%0.15%0.29%0.33%0.14%84.36%0.31%83.0%
Moscow6.54%0.32%0.25%13.90%1.97%13.09%3.55%0.60%2.62%3.52%2.93%1.77%37.76%9.53%35.2%
Moscow Oblast5.02%0.25%0.17%15.24%2.04%14.89%1.90%0.62%1.19%2.57%2.56%1.34%45.99%3.45%37.9%
Murmansk Oblast8.72%1.13%0.17%11.13%2.73%19.97%1.38%0.41%1.00%1.79%3.26%1.09%41.98%2.28%39.7%
Nenets Autonomous Okrug4.41%0.21%0.20%18.45%2.87%21.80%1.02%0.51%0.77%2.22%2.24%1.08%41.11%1.23%44.8%
Nizhny Novgorod Oblast5.11%0.14%0.12%12.83%2.26%12.36%0.94%0.40%0.68%1.70%1.69%0.52%58.15%1.30%44.4%
North Ossetia–Alania1.86%0.05%0.04%22.18%0.74%1.75%0.17%3.92%0.10%0.98%0.25%0.22%67.09%0.15%85.6%
Novgorod Oblast12.60%0.25%0.14%15.67%2.58%16.18%1.78%0.42%0.75%1.34%2.33%0.81%40.05%2.81%39.8%
Novosibirsk Oblast5.61%0.26%0.13%19.55%3.48%19.55%0.96%0.37%1.04%3.13%1.82%0.84%38.26%2.30%34.9%
Omsk Oblast6.24%0.24%0.16%25.21%4.55%15.61%1.98%0.31%0.74%1.27%1.72%0.64%36.32%1.91%38.7%
Orenburg Oblast5.39%0.21%0.13%18.38%3.08%22.66%1.02%0.62%0.60%1.04%1.68%0.55%40.85%1.35%41.6%
Oryol Oblast5.63%0.24%0.12%17.86%3.74%15.33%0.94%0.38%0.64%1.13%1.73%0.75%47.93%1.10%53.5%
Penza Oblast4.44%0.12%0.08%12.48%2.12%10.02%0.58%0.24%0.47%0.89%1.37%0.47%64.26%1.03%60.6%
Perm Krai9.02%0.21%0.16%14.24%3.36%15.75%1.74%0.35%0.86%1.45%2.24%0.69%42.65%3.07%35.1%
Primorsky Krai5.16%0.21%0.17%17.95%3.38%19.66%1.51%0.45%0.86%1.87%3.80%0.82%38.99%1.79%37.3%
Pskov Oblast7.27%0.19%0.18%17.41%2.59%14.23%1.18%0.71%0.53%1.47%2.17%0.81%45.15%4.14%42.1%
Rostov Oblast4.34%0.20%0.12%13.60%2.29%12.49%0.82%0.34%0.57%1.53%1.58%0.58%58.79%1.18%48.2%
Ryazan Oblast5.00%0.18%0.10%13.99%2.58%14.99%0.82%0.30%0.73%1.49%1.85%0.72%54.52%1.34%43.3%
Saint Petersburg6.90%0.28%0.31%11.31%1.23%11.36%8.52%0.44%2.18%2.62%2.19%1.53%39.71%9.08%32.5%
Sakha Republic15.20%0.82%0.16%14.35%3.14%10.70%0.73%0.30%0.49%1.56%2.34%0.82%46.42%1.16%48.1%
Sakhalin Oblast3.40%0.21%0.14%15.44%3.25%20.03%1.07%0.59%0.72%1.72%3.00%0.90%45.44%1.74%37.1%
Samara Oblast4.47%0.51%0.16%15.94%2.75%14.27%1.45%0.36%0.91%1.33%1.44%0.86%50.77%1.99%52.8%
Saratov Oblast4.22%0.14%0.18%10.36%2.06%9.36%0.59%0.53%0.36%1.03%0.76%0.49%68.17%0.89%64.4%
Sevastopol5.09%0.12%0.07%12.07%1.90%15.36%3.58%0.30%0.56%2.29%0.98%0.78%53.78%0.65%47.0%
Smolensk Oblast4.35%0.20%0.11%15.82%2.23%19.42%0.86%0.59%0.64%1.38%2.10%0.72%48.13%1.33%40.3%
Stavropol Krai4.34%0.18%0.15%13.19%2.67%15.52%1.02%0.42%0.52%1.29%1.72%0.85%54.26%0.99%42.0%
Sverdlovsk Oblast13.20%0.35%0.16%11.88%2.61%16.54%1.47%0.50%0.97%1.57%3.03%1.25%40.53%2.90%41.4%
Tambov Oblast3.89%0.11%0.09%10.77%1.76%7.76%0.42%0.21%0.39%7.21%0.94%0.38%63.51%0.87%49.2%
Tatarstan2.26%0.12%0.11%4.07%3.02%2.25%0.23%0.20%0.27%0.41%0.49%0.20%85.27%0.55%78.7%
Tomsk Oblast7.33%0.20%0.17%12.58%3.52%20.46%1.84%0.50%1.10%1.45%1.91%1.55%40.67%3.71%33.8%
Tula Oblast4.47%0.17%0.13%14.41%2.61%14.28%0.98%0.32%0.77%1.79%2.60%0.99%53.02%1.76%45.6%
Tuva4.35%0.10%0.09%4.17%1.15%3.12%0.23%0.24%0.47%0.25%0.94%0.26%82.61%0.93%89.7%
Tver Oblast9.61%0.17%0.14%15.23%2.18%16.35%1.07%0.41%0.79%1.94%2.26%0.76%45.00%1.92%41.6%
Tyumen Oblast11.45%0.14%0.11%12.27%0.50%14.12%0.25%0.24%0.20%0.35%0.53%0.23%58.35%0.39%81.1%
Udmurtia8.91%0.31%0.13%13.93%2.24%12.28%3.18%0.67%0.61%1.15%1.82%0.62%50.52%1.19%44.4%
Ulyanovsk Oblast3.34%0.21%0.12%19.16%3.24%15.99%1.81%0.46%0.61%1.13%1.89%0.54%48.46%1.23%52.3%
Vladimir Oblast7.61%0.39%0.15%13.03%3.37%17.96%1.25%0.42%0.84%1.94%3.04%0.99%45.20%1.77%38.4%
Volgograd Oblast5.61%0.16%0.11%14.94%2.53%16.17%0.88%0.79%0.73%1.27%1.82%0.73%50.64%1.76%42.1%
Vologda Oblast10.54%0.23%0.15%13.87%2.76%21.40%1.45%0.40%0.97%1.40%4.03%1.00%37.21%2.43%40.8%
Voronezh Oblast7.07%0.12%0.10%15.59%1.98%9.25%0.70%0.54%0.53%1.48%1.28%0.56%58.67%0.97%53.7%
Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug4.74%0.28%0.27%6.86%1.15%14.02%0.65%0.46%0.43%0.73%0.90%0.49%67.14%0.67%74.3%
Yaroslavl Oblast10.27%0.28%0.11%16.04%2.19%17.36%1.43%0.59%1.26%2.50%2.51%1.46%38.43%3.77%37.8%
Zabaykalsky Krai4.17%0.35%0.16%15.93%3.38%26.40%0.66%0.81%0.50%1.19%2.13%0.78%39.87%0.82%38.9%
Total6.23%0.22%0.14%13.34%2.27%13.14%1.29%0.59%0.73%1.51%1.73%0.76%54.19%1.99%47.8%

By constituency