Regarding the report, the statistics are (all are from International IDEA):
Quote:French legislative elections 2012 - voter turnout 46%
Lithuanian legislative elections 2012 - voter turnout 56%
Romanian legislative elections 2012 - voter turnout 43%
Georgian legislative elections 2012 - voter turnout 59%
American legislative elections 2014 - voter turnout 34%
Ukrainian legislative elections 2014 - voter turnout 50%
Mexican legislative elections 2015 - voter turnout 49%
Portuguese legislative elections 2015 - voter turnout 62%
Brazilian legislative elections 2014 - voter turnout 75%
Compared to the above, the Russian 48% seems to be not at all out of the ordinary.