Elections In Brief
* In the bicameral Chechen parliament elected in November 2005, Unified Russia held 33 mandates, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) -- six, and the Union of Rightist Forces (SPS) -- three. There were 14 independent deputies. That parliament voted on June 27 to dissolve itself in line with amendments to the constitution and election law adopted in a referendum in December 2007.
* The new parliament will have 41 deputies, one-third fewer than the previous parliament. All will be elected under the party-list system, and for a period of five years, not four as was previously the case.
* A total of 347 candidates have been registered to participate, representing seven of the 12 political parties with regional organizations in Chechnya: Unified Russia; A Just Russia; the KPRF; the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia; Patriots of Russia; the Party of Peace and Unity; and the People's Union.
* The Greens were denied registration on the grounds that more than 2,500 of the 13,000 signatures they submitted in their support were found to be counterfeit, kavkaz-uzel.ru reported on September 5. The maximum permitted percentage of invalid signatures is 10 percent of the total submitted.