t; if the
president dies in office, cannot exercise his powers because of ill
health, is impeached, or resigns, the premier serves as acting
president until a new presidential election is held, which must be
within three months; premier appointed by the president with the
approval of the Duma
election results: Dmitriy MEDVEDEV elected president; percent of
vote - Dmitry MEDVEDEV 70.2%, Gennady ZYUGANOV 17.7%, Vladimir
ZHIRINOVSKY 9.4%, Andrey BOGDONOV 1.3%

Legislative branch:

bicameral Federal Assembly or Federalnoye Sobraniye consists of an
upper house, the Federation Council or Sovet Federatsii (168 seats;
as of July 2000, members appointed by the top executive and
legislative officials in each of the 84 federal administrative units
- oblasts, krays, republics, autonomous okrugs and oblasts, and the
federal cities of Moscow and Saint Petersburg; to serve four-year
terms) and a lower house, the State Duma or Gosudarstvennaya Duma
(450 seats; as of 2007, all members elected by proportional
representation from party lists winning at least 7% of the vote;
members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: State Duma - last held 2 December 2007 (next to be held
in December 2011)
election results: State Duma - United Russia 64.3%, CPRF 11.5%, LDPR
8.1%, Just Russia 7.7%, other 8.4%; total seats by party - United
Russia 315, CPRF 57, LDPR 40, Just Russia 38

Judicial branch:

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

Political parties and leaders:

Communist Party of the Russian Federation or CPRF [Gennadiy
Andreyevich ZYUGANOV]; Just Russia [Sergey MIRONOV]; Liberal
Democratic Party of Russia or LDPR [Vladimir Volfovich
ZHIRINOVSKIY]; Patriots of Russia [Gennadiy SEMIGIN]; People's Union
[Sergey BABURIN]; Right Cause [Leonid Yakovlevich GOZMAN, Boris
Yuriyevich TITOV, and Georgiy Georgiyevich BOVT] (registration
pending; formed from merger of Union of Right Forces, Democratic
Party of Russia, and Civic Force); United Russia [Vladimir
Vladimirovich PUTIN]; Yabloko Party [Sergey Sergeyevich MITROKHIN]

Political pressure groups and leaders:

Levada Center (conducts polls); Memorial (human rights group;
Movement Against Illegal Migration; Pamjat (preservation of
historical monuments and recording of history); Russian Orthodox
Church; Russian-Chechen Frien