3rd State Duma mainly to keep the levers of control of the State Duma from its main competitors at that time - "Fatherland-All Russia". The Communists made an agreement on favorable terms. Later, second coalition was formed, The so-called "Coalition of Four" which included Unity, Fatherland-All Russia, People’s Deputy, and Russia’s Regions, and comprised exactly half of the Duma. The latter two of these groups were not parties per se, but rather deputy groups formed in the Duma. During the session, the parliament consolidated pro-government forces around President Vladimir Putin: the merger of public movements "Unity" and "Fatherland" was announced, which led to
4th State Duma four were able to overcome the 5% election threshold to gain representation based upon the proportional representation system and another party was held in the State Duma by winning a few electoral districts. The first meeting of the State Duma traditionally held oldest deputy – 80 year-old of Valentin Varennikov. On December 29, 2003, the parliament elected Boris Gryzlov as the Chairman of the State Duma. First Deputy Chairman elected: Lyubov Sliska and Alexander Zhukov. Deputy Chairman elected: Georgy Boos (before September 21, 2005), Yuri Volkov (since September 21, 2005), Artur Chilingarov, Vyacheslav Volodin, Vladimir Pekhtin, Oleg Morozov, Valentin Kuptsov,