Legislative elections were held in the Russian Federation

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 on December 17, 1995. At stake were the 450 seats in the State Duma

State Duma

The State Duma , common abbreviation: Госду́ма ) in the Russian Federation is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia , the upper house being the Federation Council of Russia. The Duma headquarters is located in central Moscow, a few steps from Manege Square. Its members are referred to...

 (Gosudarstvennaya Duma), the lower house

Lower house

A lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house.Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide the lower house has come to wield more power...

 of the Federal Assembly of Russia

Federal Assembly of Russia

The Federal Assembly of Russia is the legislature of the Russian Federation, according to the Constitution of Russian Federation, 1993...

 (The legislature

Legislature

A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...

).

The election law adopted for the 1995 election was similar to that adopted for the 1993 election, with some minor modifications. First, to secure a place on the proportional representation ballot, parties had to have registered with the Ministry of Justice no later than six months before the election, and the number of signatures they had to gather rose from 100,000 to 200,000. Second, invalid votes were now included in the calculation of the 5.0 percent threshold. Third, on the single-member district ballot, party endorsements of candidates were indicated.

Outcome and aftermath

Out of the forty three parties and coalitions contesting the elections, only four cleared the 5% threshold to qualify for the proportional seats.

Pro-Government parties

Our Home Is Russia had weightier resources and soon acquired the nickname
of “party of power” for its reliance on elite political and economic office
holders. It was also referred to as “Our Home Is Gazprom” for its close ties to
Gazprom’s substantial financial resources. Most of the cabinet ministers joined
the bloc, and a number of business leaders and regional political elites affiliated
with it. However, almost no other parties entered it, and many SMD candidates
who had initially affiliated with the party soon left it. One of the early parties
to enter the bloc, Sergei Shakhrai’s Party of Russian Unity and Concord, also
deserted it in August. In the election, theOur
Home Is Russia bloc took 10.1% of the vote, enough to form a faction in the
Duma but not enough to serve as a dominant or pivotal force in parliament or
in the regions. At its peak, the party claimed the membership of around one
third of Russia’s governors. However, both the center and regional elites made
only ephemeral commitments to Our Home is Russia.

Opposition parties

As a result of these elections, the Communists

Communist Party of the Russian Federation

The Communist Party of the Russian Federation is a Russian political party. It is the second major political party in the Russian Federation.-History:...

 and their satellites, the Agrarians and other left-wing deputies, controlled a little less than the half of the seats. The populist

Populism

Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...

 LDPR occasionally sided with the left

Left-wing politics

In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...

 majority, but often supported the government. As in the previous Duma, the parliamentary groups of independent deputies had a significant influence on the balance of power in the parliament.

On January 17, 1996 a Communist Gennady Seleznyov was elected the Speaker of the Duma

Speaker of the Duma

The Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation , also called Speaker , is the presiding officer of the lower house of the Russian parliament...

.

2nd Russian Duma by Parliamentary Group

Parliamentary group		Leader	Seats (Jan.'96)http://www.politika.su/fs/gd2frac.html
Communist Party of the Russian Federation Communist Party of the Russian Federation The Communist Party of the Russian Federation is a Russian political party. It is the second major political party in the Russian Federation.-History:...		Gennady Zyuganov Gennady Zyuganov Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov is a Russian politician, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation , Chairman of the Union of Communist Parties - Communist Party of the Soviet Union , deputy of the State Duma , and a member of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe...	139
Our Home - Russia		Sergei Belyaev	65
Liberal Democratic Party of Russia Liberal Democratic Party of Russia The Liberal Democratic Party of Russia , Liberal'no-Demokraticheskaya Partiya Rossii is a political party in Russia. Since its founding in 1991, it has been led by the charismatic and controversial figure Vladimir Zhirinovsky...		Vladimir Zhirinovsky Vladimir Zhirinovsky Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky is a Russian politician, colonel of the Russian Army, founder and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia , Vice-Chairman of the State Duma, and a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe....	49
Yabloko Yabloko The Russian United Democratic Party "Yabloko" The Russian United Democratic Party "Yabloko" The Russian United Democratic Party "Yabloko" (Russian: Росси́йская объединённая демократи́ческая па́ртия «Я́блоко» Rossiyskaya obyedinyonnaya demokraticheskaya partiya "Yabloko"; is a Russian social...		Grigory Yavlinsky	45
"Regions of Russia (Independent Deputies)"		Oleg Morozov Oleg Morozov Oleg Morozov may refer to:* Oleg Slaviyevich Morozov , Russian footballer* Oleg Morozov , Soviet international footballer...	44
People's Power		Nikolai Ryzhkov Nikolai Ryzhkov Nikolai Ivanovich Ryzhkov was a Soviet official who became a Russian politician following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. He served as the last Chairman of the Council of Ministers or Premier of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991...	41
Agrarian Group		Nikolay Kharitonov Nikolay Kharitonov Nikolay Mikhailovich Kharitonov is a Russian politician from the Novosibirsk region. He is a leading member of the Agrarian Party of Russia, and a member of the State Duma, the Russian parliament. In 2004 he ran for the office of president of Russia in the presidential elections. His candidacy...	35
Democratic Choice of Russia Democratic Choice of Russia The Democratic Choice of Russia was a Russian political party that existed from 1994 to 2001.-Background and Establishment:...  (unregistered)		Sergey Yushenkov	6
Independents			19
Total			450