The number of deputies in the State Duma is determined by the Russian Constitution. For its existence, and this is more than two decades, this law has not undergone significant changes. At the same time, the history of Russian parliamentarism is much longer. Let's find out how many deputies in the State Duma of Russia, as well as some other nuances of the functioning of this body and its history.
The origins of Russian parliamentarism
Before finding out how many deputies are in the State Duma, let's plunge into the history of Russian parliamentarism.
The first parliament in our country, which was called so - the State Duma, arose even in the days of the Russian Empire. Its foundation was a kind of concession to the people of the monarchy, which demanded the right to participate in the administration of the country, which led to the unfinished revolution of 1905. Then Emperor Nicholas II issued a decree establishing the State Duma. True, her decisions were not binding, but only advisory in nature.
Already in December 1905, the first convocation of this parliamentary body began to work. The number of deputies in the State Duma was 448 people. Most of them were in fractions of the Constitutional Democrats (153 people), Trudoviks (97 people) and autonomists (63 people). 105 deputies were not members of any party. The first meeting of the Duma of this convocation dates back to April 1906, but it worked for only 72 days and in July was dissolved according to the imperial decree.
The Duma of the second convocation worked in the first half of 1907. This time, the total number of deputies in the State Duma was 518 people. Now the Trudoviks had the majority (104 deputies), while the Cadets had only 98 deputies. The removal of deputies of the State Duma was carried out in June 1907, when the parliamentary body was dissolved under the pretext of suspicion of an attempt by some of its members to carry out a coup.
The Duma of the third convocation worked from 1907 to 1912. It was represented by 446 deputies. This time the Octobrists had the majority - 154 people.
How many deputies are in the State Duma of the last, fourth, convocation, which worked from 1912 to 1917? 442 deputies took part in its activities. Most of all there were again Octobrists - 98 people. It was dissolved after the February Revolution in October 1917, when elections to the Constituent Assembly were scheduled. But the further prospects of Russian parliamentarism remained unfulfilled, since the October Revolution of 1917 took place in the country.
After the Bolsheviks came to power , the Supreme Council became the legislative body of the RSFSR, and then the Russian Federation. He performed the legislative function from 1938 to 1993.
Formation of the State Duma of the Russian Federation
The reason for the formation of a new parliamentary body was the attempt of a significant part of the deputy corps of the Supreme Council, headed by its speaker Ruslan Khasbulatov, in October 1993 to carry out a coup. The attempt was unsuccessful, but it served as an occasion for the dissolution of the Supreme Council.
In the same year, Russian President Boris Yeltsin issued a decree on the formation of a new parliamentary body - the State Duma. Elections to the Duma were held in December 1993.
State Duma Functions
Now let's find out what the activities of the deputies of the State Duma consist of.
The State Duma is the highest legislative body in Russia. That is, the main duty of deputies is the legislative process. This parliamentary body has the status of the lower house of the Federal Assembly, the upper house of which is the Federation Council.
The rights and obligations of members of parliament are specified in the Law on the Status of a Deputy of the State Duma. For example, this law guarantees parliamentary immunity, as well as a number of other privileges of deputies.
The term of office of deputies
Initially, during the transitional period immediately after the establishment of the State Duma, deputies of the first convocation received their powers for a total of two years. But from the next convocation it was planned to increase this term to four years. This was done, therefore, from 1995 to 2011, deputies from the second to the fifth convocation received powers for a period of four years.
But since 2011, the term of parliamentary powers has been increased to five years. It was for this period that the opportunity was given to the deputies of the sixth convocation to fulfill their duties. This was done in order to save budget funds for the elections.
The next elections to deputies of the State Duma are scheduled for September 2016.
Election mechanism
What is the system of election of deputies of the State Duma? As mentioned above, if previously the election of deputies was held every four years, now they are held every five years.
In Russia there is a mixed election system. That is, half of the deputies are elected in a single-mandate constituency, and the other half - on party lists. Thus, in the first case, voters vote for a specific person who, if he wins the district, will become a deputy, and in the second case, for the party. It is this approach that maximizes both the interests of specific regions and the electoral preferences of voters.
The number of deputies
Now let's find out how many deputies are in the State Duma. The Constitution of Russia gives a clear answer to this question, in which the size of the parliament is prescribed.
There are 450 deputies in the State Duma at the moment. Moreover, the indicated number has not changed since the very formation of this parliamentary body in 1993.
The composition of the State Duma
We learned how many deputies are in the State Duma of the Russian Federation. At the same time, it is equally important to know what forces are currently representing national interests. Because of its cumbersomeness, a complete list of deputies of the State Duma for 450 people cannot be presented here, but we can study the structure of parliament by knowing the number of representatives from fractions in it.
At the moment, the largest in the Duma of deputies from the pro-government faction "United Russia" is 238 people. Then followed by deputies from the Communist Party - 92 people. Following them are representatives of the Just Russia faction - 64 people. The smallest in the parliament of deputies from the LDPR is 56 people. This number of deputies is optimally justified by the need for the representation of various districts of Russia, as well as political forces.
Parliament structure
Now let's find out how the State Duma is structured and what its internal organization is. After all, 450 deputies are still a considerable number of people, and each of them, in addition to the main function of lawmaking, has to perform additional tasks in parliament.
We talked about the factional division of deputies above. It is worth saying only that fractions are groups of deputies united by a single long-term goal and a common vision of the country's further development path. Most often, fractions are formed around individual parties or are created from the union of several parties.
The first person in the State Duma is the chairman. His responsibilities include managing the work of parliament during sessional activities, as well as representing him in relations with other state structures, as well as foreign parliamentary bodies. The Chairman of the State Duma is elected by deputies by secret ballot, as a rule, at the first session of the convocation. In addition, the first deputy and deputies are elected. Their duties include assisting the chairman in conducting the session, in addition, the first deputy should replace him, in case of absence for any reason. At the moment, the chairman of the State Duma is a member of the pro-government party "United Russia" Sergei Naryshkin.
The main task of the State Duma apparatus is to ensure the smooth functioning of the Russian parliament. This body is obliged to monitor the material, technical, informational, financial, organizational support of the activities of deputies. The head of the State Duma apparatus is in charge of this structure. At the moment, this position is held by Jahan Rejepovna Pollyeva.
The specific directions of legislative activity are the committees of the State Duma. They consist of deputies organized in groups of individual segments, often according to party quotas. Currently, the main committees are:
- under constitutional law;
- on the budget;
- on labor and social policy;
- on economic policy;
- on property issues;
- on energy;
- by industry;
- health protection;
- of Education.
In addition, there are a number of other committees. In these structural divisions of the parliament, specific bills are developed and discussed, according to the profile direction of the committee. The activities of the committees are led by chairpersons who have first deputies and deputies.
The work of the commissions is very similar to the work of committees. The main difference is that the tasks of these structures do not include legislative activity, but control over any direction of functioning. Sometimes commissions are specially formed to monitor the implementation of a specific task. There are currently six commissions in the Russian parliament:
- to control the accuracy of income information;
- on issues of parliamentary ethics;
- counting commission;
- on the construction of buildings for the parliamentary center;
- to monitor the development of the defense industry of Russia;
- to control the expenditure of funds from the budget aimed at providing nat. security.
Each commission is headed by a chairman.
Another structural organ of the Russian parliament is the Council of the State Duma. It is this body that prepares specific bills for consideration at the session, and plans the work of parliament during the sessional procedure. That is, this is the body that carries out preliminary work on ready-made bills before submitting them for general consideration by deputies.
The Council is headed by the chairman of the State Duma. In addition, the Council includes its deputies and leaders of parliamentary factions. But the chairmen of the committees have only an advisory vote in this body.
Such in general terms is the structure of the organization of the State Duma of the Russian Federation.
Dissolution of the State Duma
The possibility of dissolution of the parliament is provided for by the Constitution of Russia. This procedure can be carried out if the Duma rejects three times the candidates proposed by the president for the post of prime minister or three times expresses distrust of it. In this case, the head of state may exercise his constitutional right to dissolve parliament. But so far in recent Russian history, this procedure for the dissolution of the State Duma has not been applied. The only dissolution of the parliamentary body was carried out in 1993 under President Boris Yeltsin. But then it was still called the Supreme Council, that is, it was even before the establishment of the Duma.
In addition, several times the removal of deputies of the State Duma was carried out individually. In this case, the parliament itself decides to remove its individual members. For example, according to this procedure, Ilya Ponomarev, a deputy from the Just Russia faction, was removed from activity in the State Duma.
The Importance of Parliamentarism
The importance of the State Duma in Russia is difficult to overestimate. After all, this is precisely the body of state power through which, through the institution of elections, citizens exercise their constitutional right to govern the country. His tasks include the adoption of legislative acts, as well as the implementation of a number of control functions, and some other tasks. That is, in other words, the adoption of specific laws in the country depends on the State Duma.
The current number of deputies in parliament is scientifically justified by the required number of representatives from all regions of Russia, and various political forces, so that the interests of the entire population of the country are taken into account. That is why it was decided to dwell on the number of 450 deputies.
Of course, like any institution of power, parliamentarism is far from ideal. At the same time, it should be noted that a more effective governing body through which the entire mass of the population having the citizenship of a particular state can influence public policy has not yet been invented in the world. In addition, the existence of several branches of government, including a separate legislative branch operating through parliament, allows controlling other branches of government (executive and judicial) and preventing usurpation of the government of one of them or by the president.