According to the preliminary election results for the State Duma, United Russia is likely to retain its constitutional majority, which will allow it to independently adopt federal constitutional laws and a number of other decisions in the lower house that require two-thirds of deputies' votes. The party is currently claiming more than 300 of the 450 seats, according to data from Russia's Central Election Commission and calculations by Russian media, UNN reports.
Details
According to the latest preliminary results, United Russia is receiving about 58% of the vote on the federal party list, while its candidates are leading in the vast majority of single-member constituencies. The exact distribution of seats will become known after the vote count is completed.
The State Duma consists of 450 deputies, so for a constitutional majority a party must control at least 300 seats—two-thirds of the chamber. According to preliminary calculations, United Russia is surpassing this threshold with room to spare.
What a constitutional majority provides in the Russian Federation
The main difference from an ordinary parliamentary majority is that United Russia will not need the votes of other factions in the State Duma to adopt federal constitutional laws—for this, at least two-thirds of the deputies' votes are required.
The same number of votes in the State Duma is required to override a presidential veto of a federal law, although this also requires the corresponding majority in the Federation Council.
A constitutional majority also allows the faction to independently secure the two-thirds majority of State Duma votes required during consideration of amendments to Chapters 3–8 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. However, the State Duma itself cannot amend the Constitution unilaterally: such amendments also require approval by three-quarters of the Federation Council and by the legislative bodies of at least two-thirds of the regions.
Thus, a constitutional majority significantly strengthens United Russia's control over the State Duma and allows the pro-Putin party to pass through the lower house even those decisions for which an ordinary majority of 226 votes is insufficient. At the same time, this does not give the party unilateral control over the entire procedure for amending the Constitution or adopting federal constitutional laws, since these require the participation of the Federation Council and, depending on the procedure, other government bodies.