and half from single-member
constituencies; members are elected by direct popular vote to serve
four-year terms)

elections: State Duma - last held 19 December 1999 (next to be held
NA December 2003)

election results: State Duma - percent of vote received by parties
clearing the 5% threshold entitling them to a proportional share of
the 225 party list seats - KPRF 24.29%, Unity 23.32%, OVR 13.33%,
Union of Right Forces 8.52%, LDPR 5.98%, Yabloko 5.93%; seats by
party - KPRF 113, Unity 72, OVR 67, Union of Rightist Forces 29,
LDPR 17, Yabloko 21, other 16, independents 106, repeat election
required 8, vacant 1

Judicial branch: Constitutional Court; Supreme Court; Superior Court
of Arbitration; judges for all courts are appointed for life by the
Federation Council on the recommendation of the president

Political parties and leaders: Agrarian Party [Mikhail Ivanovich
LAPSHIN]; Communist Party of the Russian Federation or KPRF
[Gennadiy Andreyevich ZYUGANOV]; Fatherland-All Russia or OVR [Yuriy
Mikhailovich LUZHKOV]; Liberal Democratic Party of Russia or LDPR
[Vladimir Volfovich ZHIRINOVSKIY]; Union of Right Forces [Anatoliy
Borisovich CHUBAYS, Yegor Timurovich GAYDAR, Irina Mutsuovna
KHAKAMADA, Boris Yefimovich NEMTSOV]; Unity [Sergey Kuzhugetovich
SHOYGU]; Yabloko Bloc [Grigoriy Alekseyevich YAVLINSKIY]

note: some 150 political parties, blocs, and movements registered
with the Justice Ministry as of the 19 December 1998 deadline to be
eligible to participate in the 19 December 1999 Duma elections; of
these, 36 political organizations actually qualified to run slates
of candidates on the Duma party list ballot, 6 parties cleared the
5% threshold to win a proportional share of the 225 party seats in
the Duma, 9 other organizations hold seats in the Duma: Bloc of
Nikolayev and Academician Fedorov, Congress of Russian Communities,
Movement in Support of the Army, Our Home Is Russia, Party of
Pensioners, Power to the People, Russian All-People's Union, Russian
Socialist Party, and Spiritual Heritage; primary political blocs
include pro-market democrats - (Yabloko Bloc and Union of Right
Forces), anti-market and/or ultranationalist (Communist Party of the
Russian Federation and Liberal Democratic Party of Russia)

Political pressure groups and leaders: NA

International organization participation: APEC, ASEAN (dialogue
partner), BIS, BSEC, CBSS, CCC, CE, CERN (observer), CIS, EAPC,
EBRD, ECE, ESCAP, G- 8, IAEA,