Russian legislative election, 1999
The parliamentary election in Russia in 1999 took place on 19 December 1999. It seats 450 were awarded in the Duma, one half from party lists and direct dial. Choosing approval received 26 electoral associations and a variety of direct candidates.
Background
The election was marked by the conflict between two camps within the Russian ruling class.
On the one hand, the popular mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov and former Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, who were supported by a number of influential regional politicians were. These forces had in the Alliance Fatherland - All Russia together.
On the other side stood the environment of President Boris Yeltsin, in the event of an electoral success of the Fatherland - All Russia saw threatened their power and their financial interests. Reason for this was, for example, the fact that Yevgeny Primakov, had in his time as Prime Minister, at the beginning of 1999, public prosecutors against the " gray eminence of the Kremlin ", Boris Berezovsky hard. In addition to that both Primakov and Luzhkov were considered as promising candidates in the upcoming presidential elections also. In order to enforce the interests of the environment of the president 's political movement unit ( Edinstvo ) was founded, which in a sense the successor of the old pro-presidential party took Our House Russia. On building the party key officials in the Presidential Administration Vladislav Surkov and Igor as Schabdurasulow were involved. An important point in the campaign strategy of unity was the declared support of the then Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who had a high popularity.
Unit received during the election campaign massive support from the media, the government-backed oligarchs and the state, including the TV channels ORT and RTR, the station Radio Mayak and the newspapers Nezavisimaya Gazeta and Kommersant. Fatherland - All Russia, however, was supported by the Group's Media-Most of the media magnate Vladimir Gusinsky (to which, among other things, the transmitter was NTW ) and Komsomolets and Sewodnja by the newspapers Moskovsky.
Other parties who were entitled to take the hope to move into the Duma were the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, which became in 1995 the strongest force in the election, the left-liberal movement Yabloko, the liberal Union of Right Forces and the right-wing populist block Zhirinovsky.
Election result
Strongest party was the CPRF . Unit received almost as many on list positions assigned seats, but only very few direct mandates. The electoral bloc Fatherland - All Russia was well behind unit, but this was offset by direct mandates halfway. The newly created Union of Right Forces reached a surprising 8.5 percent votes. Grigori Jawlinskis Yabloko party achieved 5.9 percent of the vote the worst election result since 1993.