State Duma (Russian Empire) denying responsible government at the executive level. Furthermore, the Tsar had the power to dismiss the Duma and announce new elections whenever he wished; article 87 allowed him to pass temporary (emergency) laws by decrees. All these powers and prerogatives assured that, in practice, the Government of Russia continued to be a non-official absolute monarchy. It was in this context that the first Duma opened four days later, on April 27, 1906. The first Duma opened on 27 April 1906 after the 1905 revolution and was established by Nicholas II in his October Manifesto, with around 500 deputies; most radical
Sakhalin Oblast Duma 1994, were declared invalid, the regional Duma of the first convocation consisted of only 12 deputies. The Sakhalin Oblast Duma is unicameral just like most other legislative assembly body found in Russian federal subjects. It currently comprises of 28 deputies, with 14 of them running in single mandate constituencies and the other 14 in the single electoral district. Deputies are elected by public vote once every 5 years, whereby winners are determined by the two voting systems of first-past-the-post voting and party-list proportional representation, which is combined together in what is known as the parallel voting system. The Duma also