2007 Russian legislative election

2007 Russian legislative election

← 2003 2 December 2007 2011 →
All 450 seats to the State Duma 226 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	63.71% 8.01 pp
Majority party Minority party   Leader Boris Gryzlov Gennady Zyuganov Party United Russia CPRF Last election 223 seats, 37.57% 52 seats, 12.61% Seats won 315 57 Seat change 92 5 Popular vote 44,714,241 8,046,886 Percentage 64.30% 11.57% Swing 26.73pp 1.04pp   Third party Fourth party   Leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky Sergey Mironov Party LDPR SR Last election 36 seats, 11.45% New Seats won 40 38 Seat change 4 38 Popular vote 5,660,823 5,383,639 Percentage 8.14% 7.74% Swing 3.31pp New
Chairman before election Boris Gryzlov United Russia Elected Chairman Boris Gryzlov United Russia

Legislative elections were held in Russia on 2 December 2007.^[1] At stake were the 450 seats in the 5th State Duma, the lower house of the Federal Assembly (the legislature). Eleven parties were included in the ballot, including Russia's largest party, United Russia, which was supported by President of Russia Vladimir Putin. Official results showed that United Russia won 64.3% of the votes, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation 11.6%, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia 8.1%, and Fair Russia won 7.7%, and none of the other parties won enough votes to gain any seats.

Although 400 foreign election monitors were present at the polling stations, the elections received mixed criticism internationally, largely from Western countries, and by some independent media and some opposition parties domestically. The observers stated that the elections were not rigged but that media coverage was heavily favoured towards United Russia.^{[citation needed]} The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated that the elections were "not fair", while foreign governments and the European Union called on Russia to look for possible violations. The election commission responded saying that the allegations would be examined. The Kremlin insisted that the vote was fair and said it demonstrated Russia's political stability.