First Duma (1993-95) dominated
by authoritarian parties: Communists, the Agrarian Party,
and Zhirinovsky’s Liberal Democratic Party of Russia
Second Duma (1995-99)
Communists controlled almost half of all the seats
Third Duma (1999-2003) Unity
and Fatherland-All Russia together with two smaller
pro-Kremlin parliamentary factions were able to garner simple
majority
Fourth Duma (2003-07) The
“presidential party” United Russia
controlled 68% of all seats
Fifth Duma (2007-11) The
“presidential party” United Russia controls over 64% of all
seats
A
powerful centrist coalition has been formed designed to dominate the
parliament for a long time and to prevent the left-wing forces from
stalling reform or coming to power
Putin goes to a restaurant with the
leaders of the two houses of parliament. The waiter
approaches and asks Putin what he would like to order.
