2003 PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS: "RULING PARTY" TRIUMPH OR CPRF'S LOSS?
The paper highlights the critical moment in the history of post-Soviet parliamentarism - the election to the State Duma of the fourth convocation at which for the first time the ruling party celebrated a resounding victory over the opposition. The confrontation between two leading parties, United Russia and Communist Party of Russian Federation (CPRF) in the course of 2003 election campaign is scrutinized through the prism of unique materials forming part of the Collection of the newest history political documents accumulated in the State Public Historical Library. Their comparison and analysis brought the author to the conclusion that the idea of positioning United Russia as the party of responsible majority which is clearly reflected in pre-election materials made a considerable contribution to the triumph of the party. On the other hand, initially advantageous CPRFs strategy aimed at transforming the elections into all-peoples referendum on a wide range of current socio-economic issues ultimately failed.