In the Russian context, the effect of the plural formula on electoral competition poorly correlates with the regularities inferred by Duverger from the experience of stable democracies. Having been applied over three electoral cycles (the elections of 1995, 1999, 2003), it generated neither a tendency to bi-partisanship at the nationwide level, nor a bi-polar format of candidates’ competition in districts. In the article, an attempt has been made to determine the character of interdependence of the “district” and the nationwide levels of competition, and the causes of the deviation of the Russian case from the Duverger law. It is the parliamentary elections of 1999 to 2003 that are embraced by the field of analysis. While focusing their attention mainly on studying the competition format transformation tendencies in the districts, the authors have attempted to retrace the logic of the impact of both the “district” and the nationwide mechanical and psychological effects and to explain the results of their superposition that have revealed themselves in Russia.