lection last held 16 June 1996 with runoff election on 3 July 1996
(next to be held NA June 2000); note - no vice president; if the
president dies in office, cannot exercise his powers because of ill
health, is impeached, or resigns, the premier succeeds him; the
premier serves as acting president until a new presidential election
is held, which must be within three months; premier and deputy
premiers appointed by the president with the approval of the Duma
election results: Boris Nikolayevich YEL'TSIN elected president;
percent of vote in runoff - YEL'TSIN 54%, Gennadiy ZYUGANOV 40%

Legislative branch: bicameral Federal Assembly or Federalnoe Sobranie
consists of the Federation Council or Sovet Federatsii (178 seats,
filled ex-officio by the top executive and legislative officials in
each of the 89 federal administrative units - oblasts, krays,
republics, autonomous okrugs and oblasts, and the cities of Moscow and
St. Petersburg; members serve four-year terms) and the State Duma or
Gosudarstvennaya Duma (450 seats, half elected in single-member
districts and half elected from national party lists; members are
elected by direct popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections : State Duma - last held 17 December 1995 (next to be held
NA December 1999)
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 - Communist Party of the Russian Federation
22.3%, Liberal Democratic Party of Russia 11.2%, Our Home Is Russia
10.1%, Yabloko Bloc 6.9%; seats by party - Communist Party of the
Russian Federation 157, independents 78, Our Home Is Russia 55,
Liberal Democratic Party of Russia 51, Yabloko Bloc 45, Agrarian Party
of Russia 20, Russia's Democratic Choice 9, Power To the People 9,
Congress of Russian Communities 5, Forward, Russia! 3, Women of Russia
3, other parties 15

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

Political parties and leaders:
pro-market democrats : Yabloko Bloc [Grigoriy YAVLINSKIY]; Russia's
Democratic Choice Party [Yegor GAYDAR]; Forward, Russia! [Boris
FEDOROV]
centrists/special interest parties: Our Home Is