Footnotes

1. For the Federation Council two councillors are to be elected from each area to represent the territories for four years. There is also rotation of deputies of the Federation Council. The total number of deputies in the State Duma is 450. Both party-list proportional representation (PR) and plurality-voting in a single-member district are used for choosing deputies in the Duma, but there is no adjustment of the number of single-member deputies to reflect the proportion of political party votes on the proportional representation ballot, as in other countries. The proportional representation system operates in effect as one constituency as the votes for political party or bloc are aggregated across the entire country. A minimum participation of 25 per cent of eligible voters is required for a valid election. The candidate elected is the one who received the most votes, no matter how low a plurality, as there is no second round.

2. This organization was registered on March 7 1996. On December 2 1995, 400 delegates from 70 regions gathered in Moscow for the Uniting Conference. The Co-ordinating Council of the Russian Women's Union was established.

3. Alevtina Fedulova, another co-leader of "Women of Russia" and a former MP, did not join this group. Rather, the organization, "the Women's Union of Russia", headed by Ms Fedulova developed its own activities.