Regional parliaments

Regional parliaments in Russia are elected every five years. In different regions they are called differently: Legislative Assembly, Oblast Duma, State Council, but their functionality is the same. The scope of work of regional parliaments covers law-making, approval of the budget and reporting on its execution and other typical functions such as tax administration, organization of elections, matters of the territorial structure of the region etc.

The size of the parliament depends on the population of the region and varies from 15 (the smallest regional parliament in the Chukotka Autonomous District) to 110 (the State Assembly of the Republic of Bashkortostan).

Most parliaments in the Russian Federation are elected under a mixed electoral system. In most cases, about half of the deputies are elected by party lists (within a single electoral district), while the remaining part is elected by single-mandate constituencies. Some regions use only the proportional system, for example the republics of the North Caucasus. The only region that relies exclusively on the relative majority system is Moscow.

United Russia holds a majority of seats in almost all regional parliaments of Russia. Only in a handful of regions United Russia representation is below 50 % – these are Moscow, Khabarovsk Krai, Altai Krai. Similar to federal elections, regional elections in Russia are by and large unfree (many candidates or party lists do not get registered) and unfair (results are falsified).