Russian parliament celebrates its 20th anniversary
13 January 2014
Last Saturday, 11 January, saw the 20th anniversary of the first session of the Russian parliament made up of the Federation Council (the Upper Chamber) and the State Douma (the Lower Chamber).
The Russian parliament, or the Federal Assembly, is a representative legislative body. Its status is fixed in the Constitution
According to the federal law, the State Douma has 450 members elected for a five-year term. The Federation Council is made up of 166 executive and legislative representatives, or senators as they are known, from 83 regions. One person cannot be a member of both chambers at the same time.
Speakers of the Federation Council and the State Douma are Valentina Matvienko and Sergey Naryshkin, respectively.
In 2012, the heads of the two chambers decided to establish the Day of Russian Parliamentarianism – the 27th of April.
