How to Get Into the Duma

The State Duma’s 450 deputies are elected one of two ways: 225 are chosen in single-mandate electoral districts, 225 are chosen through federal party lists.

For the first category, the country is divided into 225 single-mandate electoral districts, each with roughly the same number of registered voters. Each of Russia’s 89 regions must have at least one electoral district (regardless of the number of residents). Under this system, voters cast their ballots directly for a particular candidate. In Russian the winners of these seats are called “odnomandatniki,” or “single-mandaters.”

For the second category, voters cast their ballots for a particular party or electoral bloc, each of which has an officially registered list of candidates. The 225 “list” seats are distributed proportionately among those parties and electoral blocs that receive at least 5 percent of the nationwide vote, with eats going to candidates in the order they appeared on their party lists.