At stake in this election:

• The office of President of Russia

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Dmitry Anatolyevich MEDVEDEV
• Head of Government: Premier Vladimir Vladimirovich PUTIN
• Assembly: Russia has a bicameral Federal Assembly (Federalnoye Sobraniye) consisting of the Federation Council (Sovet Federatsii) with 178 seats and the State Duma (Gosudarstvennaya Duma) with 450 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system to serve a 6-year term.
• The Premier is appointed by the president.
• In the Federation Council (Sovet Federatsii) 178 members are appointed by regional governing councils*. In the State Duma (Gosudarstvennaya Duma) 450 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 5-year terms.**

* There are 89 constituencies with a district magnitude of two. Terms to the Federation Council are not nationally fixed, Terms instead are determined according to the regional bodies they represent.

** Seats are allocated using the Hare quota. There is one, nationwide district and a minimum threshold of 7%.

Main Candidates in the Presidential race:

• Vladimir Vladimirovich PUTIN
  • Party: United Russia / Еди́ная Росси́я, Yedínaya Rossíya
• Gennady Andreyevich ZYUGANOV
  • Party: Communist Party of the Russian Federation / Коммунистическая партия Российской Федерации Kommunisticheskaya Partiya Rossiyskoy Federatsii (КПРФ; KPRF)
• Sergey Mikhailovich MIRONOV
  • Party: A Just Russia / Справедливая Россия, Spravedlivaya Rossiya (CP, SR)
• Mikhail Dmitrievitch PROKHOROV
  • Independent(s): N/A

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 143,201,676 (2012)
• Registered Voters: 109,860,331 (March 2012)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 76,764,552 (2012)

·         Is Russia a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (17 July 1980)

·         Has Russia ratified CEDAW: Yes (23 January 1981)

·         Gender Quota: No

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 61 (State Duma) following the 2011 elections

·         Human Development Index Position: 50 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: N/A

Disability Data:

·         Is Russia a signatory to CRPD: Yes (24 September 2008)

·         Has Russia ratified CRPD: Yes (25 September 2012)

·         Population with a disability: 21,480,251 (est.)