Elections to the State Duma of Russia on the Background of the Institutional Crisis

The election campaign to the State Duma of the Russian Federation 2016 has a number of features. It occurs during not only the economic crisis, but also the crisis of institutions of parliamentary democracy. The author in this connection set the task to find out what, according to Russians, could return to Parliament the former authority and influence. The analysis of the research results of the Institute of Sociology showed that Russians consider important, firstly, the updating of the representative functions of the State Duma largely than it is now, in order to represent clearly the major groups and strata of the Russian society. Second, they want to update the staff of the Duma, as a request for meritocracy, i.e., selection on a competitive basis the best ones with reference to their competence and moral characters and their nomination as candidates to the authorities of all levels.