Politics of Russia

The Political System of Russia is enshrined in the Russian Constitution of 12 December 1993.

Head of state

The head of state is the President of Russia. He is by the people in a general, direct and secret ballot for a period of six (before the 2012 election: four) directly elected years. The post of President must be consecutively occupied by the same person for more than two terms. After an interruption of the then former President may, however, reapply. The Office of the Vice President in Russia there were still 1990 to 1993, but was abolished with the entry into force of the 1993 Constitution.

Legislature

The legislature in the Russian system of government is exercised by the Federal Assembly. This consists of two chambers: the Federation Council upper house and as the directly elected State Duma lower house.

In the Federation Council each two representatives of each subject's Federation are represented, of which one of the executive and the legislative branch of the subject. Up to a legislative reform in 2000, the respective heads of the regional executive and legislative represented their subjects in the Federation, since they were gradually replaced by specially appointed representatives. The term of office of the representatives corresponds to the duration of the term of the institutions they represent.

The Duma is composed of members who are determined by a proportional representation. Until the election of 2003 was a mixed system of proportional representation and majority voting. The legislature of the State Duma shall be five years. It has the function to pass laws, wherein each law must be approved by the proposal through the Duma by the Federation Council and signed by the President. Has the Federation Council vetoed the adoption of a law, the Duma can still get through this when they confirmed it with at least two-thirds of the members vote. A presidential veto can only be overcome with a repeated confirmation of the law by the respective two-thirds majority in both the Duma and the Federation.

Executive

The executive power is vested in the Government of the Russian Federation, the key ministries, however, are directly subordinate to the President.

The Prime Minister of Russia - also referred to as Prime Minister - is head of government. It is proposed by the President and must be confirmed by the Duma. Discards the Duma a candidate even after three votes on, or she speaks the government a vote of no confidence from the president may dissolve by decree and order to early elections.

The government is next to the Prime Minister from his deputies, called Deputy Prime Minister and ministers. Subordinate to the government is the system of the state executive, which consists of the ministries, federal services and federal agencies.

Judiciary

The top judicial institutions in Russia, the Constitutional Court, the High Court and the Superior Court of Arbitration. Your judges are confirmed by the Federation Council on the recommendation of the President. The High Court is the Russian system of ordinary jurisdiction subordinate to the superior court of arbitration, the system of arbitration. The constitutional courts of the federal subjects not part of the federal judiciary system. A part of the judiciary in Russia is also the prosecutor that does not count for federal jurisdiction scheme and according to the constitution independence from all other power structures. About the system of the Prosecutor is the Attorney General of the Russian Federation. Its chairman, the Attorney General, is confirmed by the Federation Council on the recommendation of the President.

System of government

Regarding the correct name for the Russian system of government, there is no uniform opinion. Most spoken by a mixed of presidential and semipräsidentiellem system.

From the classic presidential system (example: USA) it essentially differs by the presence of the Office of Government and the subordination of the government, both the President and the Parliament. In contrast is the difference to the classic semi-presidential system (for example, France) is that, despite a parallel existence of the offices of the president and the prime minister, the government's responsibility before the Parliament a more theoretical nature, since the President always has the possibility of a Prime Minister to appoint at its discretion and to dissolve the parliament in certain cases.