Methods and Technologies of e-participation are an important component of Information society and e-governance development programmes. E-petitions portals are one of the mechanisms of e-participation. They provide the opportunity for citizens to influence the process of decision making at federal, regional and municipal levels. At the same time issues of the impact of e-petitions on traditional way of political decision making still remain unexplored. The article describes the practical case of an official e-petition portal development in Russia. The study aims at identifying the demand for electronic petitions portal in Russia in three main areas: 1) the dynamics of initiatives' publishing across federal districts; 2) citizens' discussion on Russian e-petition portal in social media; 3) correlation analysis of citizens' demand indicators and citizens' satisfaction with authorities work and openness, as well as other economic indicators.