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Further Reading

Russian Politics

Russians voted Sunday 04 December 2011 for a new parliament that critics called the "Approval Ministry" for rubber-stamping bills advocated by the Kremlin. The Communist Party was expected to come in second. Some of nationalists voted for a Kremlin-controlled nationalist party. One party, Fair Russia, aired ads lambasting corruption in the government. But authorities refused to register Vladimir Ryzhkov’s party. Two weeks before the parliamentary elections, United Russia, the ruling party, was struggling with approval ratings that have slumped to 51 percent.

With 96 percent of the vote counted by Monday 05 December 2011, the Central Electoral Commission said the United Russia party had garnered just under 50 percent of the vote, down from 64 percent in the 2007 election. The result allowed United Russia to claim a slim majority -- 238 of the State Duma’s 450 seats. The Communist Party made big gains, winning 92 seats, while the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party took 56, up from 40 in the previous Duma. The center-left A Just Russia – which had appeared on the verge of being disbanded only three months ealier -- was the biggest gainer -- finishing third with 64 seats, double the 2007 result. Critics said the result would have been even worse for the ruling party had the election been free and fair.

The vote was seen as a clear indication of public discontent over the political system Putin had built over the previous decade. It was also seen as an ominous sign as he prepares to run in the presidential election in March 2012. The voting took place despite growing discontent with Russia’s strongman of the last decade, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Putin, a judo expert, was unexpectedly booed at a martial arts match. One blogger called it "the end of an era." Then, another taboo was broken shortly after when Putin visited Russia’s parliament, and opposition deputies refused to stand. Putin’s approval rating had fallen to 61 percent. That is high by Western standards, but the lowest since he first took national office in 2000.

Vladimir Putin favors choreographed politics, like the nominating convention on November 27, 2011 of the ruling United Russia party, where he won 614 of 614 votes cast for the nomination to return to the presidency. Russia’s upper house of parliament formally set 04 March 2012 as the date for the country’s presidential election. Once Putin was elected president again, the 59-year-old could serve another two terms. Russia’s constitution was recently changed so the President can serve six years. Putin could remain in power until 2024, with four terms for a total of 20 years, making him the longest-serving leader since dictator Joseph Stalin, who ruled Russia for 30 years until he died in bed [Leonid Brezhnev ruled a mere 18 years].

Russia has no efficient parliamentary system, no independent judicial system. Political parties are imitations. Corruption is out of control. Russia’s net capital flight this year will hit $70 billion. And a brain drain may follow the money drain. Russia is like Alaska — residents are paid to live there. With Russia’s flat 13 percent income tax, the Kremlin gets the bulk of funding from 15 companies – mainly the oil and gas producers.

Aside from the Communist Party, a remnant of the Soviet era, Russia has had few political parties with national followings. In the immediate post-Soviet years, a wide variety of new parties espoused either some type of Western-style democratic and free-market reform or retaining a form of the strong central government inherited from Soviet times. Parliamentary elections of the 1990s generally fragmented and weakened the reform parties, although State Duma legislation in that period most often was the result of compromise. In that period, party configurations changed rapidly as groups merged and split. In 2001 the United Russia Party was formed, giving the Putin administration an effective voice in the Duma; that party's triumph in the 2003 parliamentary elections enhanced Putin's position. In those elections, the failure of any reform party to exceed the 5 percent minimum diminished the already weak political voice of the reform opposition. Ensuing legislation increased the minimum to 7 percent and required parties to have at least 50,000 members and organizations in at least half of Russia's regions, further enhancing the dominance of the United Russia Party.

The Duma elections of December 2003 gave a strong plurality (222 seats) to Putin's United Russia Party, which gained three times as many votes as the second-place Communist Party of the Russian Federation. The major reform parties of the early 2000s, Yabloko and the Union of Rightist Forces, were hindered by the electoral reforms of 2005. A third reform party, the People's Democratic Union, appeared in 2006. In mid-2006, the reform parties discussed uniting into a single organization to ensure representation in the Duma. The Liberal Democratic Party of Russia and Rodina (Homeland) parties have nationalist agendas that include abolition of the federal system and expulsion of immigrants. In 2005 Rodina was the fastest growing party in Russia, but it was prohibited from participating in most regional elections in 2006.

Between the 2003 election and mid-2006, United Russia gained 87 seats as delegates switched party allegiance. In 2006 United Russia had 309 seats; the Communist Party, 45 seats; the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, 35 seats; the Motherland bloc of regional parties, 29 seats; and the People's Party, 12 seats. Independents held 18 seats, and two seats were vacant. Some 45 members of the Duma and six of the Federation Council were women.

In 2006 the single-member constituencies that had elected half (225) of the Duma members were abolished, instead awarding all seats according to national party vote totals and eliminating the possibility of independents gaining seats. To achieve representation, a party must gain at least 7 percent of total votes. The presidential election includes a runoff between the top two vote-getters if no candidate gains a majority on the first ballot. Direct elections also choose legislatures at the subnational levels, although the president has the power to dissolve such legislatures and force the holding of new elections. Chief executives at those levels are appointed by the president. National electoral reforms in 2005, all aiming to reduce opposition party strength, increased the minimum vote percentage required for a party to be represented in the Duma from 5 to 7 percent, prohibited parties from forming electoral coalitions, and stiffened party registration requirements.

The dominant pro-presidential United Russia party received more than two-thirds of the seats in the December 2007 State Duma elections and its candidate, Dmitriy Medvedev, received more than 70 percent of the vote in the March 2008 presidential elections. Both elections were marked by abuses of administrative resources and media bias, denial of registration of opposition parties and candidates, and ballot fraud.

In the midst of a growing economy and the state's control over the political system, space for public criticism of the government is contracting. While civil society and state-sponsored watchdog organizations are generally able to operate, monitor developments, and speak out, there are notable exceptions, and the government restricted some NGOs through selective application of laws, tax auditing, and regulations that increased the administrative burden. Among specific areas of concern, security forces were alleged to have engaged with impunity in torture, abuse, unlawful killings, abductions, and disappearances. Prison conditions were often harsh and frequently life threatening; law enforcement was often corrupt; and the executive branch allegedly exerted influence over judicial decisions in some high-profile cases. Media freedoms were weakened by government ownership and pressure, and unresolved killings of journalists and other violence promoted self-censorship among the media. Access to the internet is largely unfettered, but internet traffic is reportedly monitored by the government. Television, which remains the primary source of information for most Russians, is mostly controlled or strongly influenced by the state. Local governments tried to limit freedom of assembly, and police sometimes used violence to prevent groups from engaging in peaceful protest.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was widely expected to return to the job for a third term after President Dmitry Medvedev in September 2011 agreed to step aside, in a job swap with Putin. The Putin-Medvedev job swap plan was unveiled 24 September 2011 at a congress of Russia’s ruling United Party. The congress immediately rubber stamped it. Alexei Kudrin, Russia’s finance minister for 11 years, was evidently so miffed about being passed over for the prime minister job, that he announced he would not work for the new government. In an unexpected display of force, President Medvedev told him on that he had until sundown to quit or stay on. By the end of the day, Kudrin, the pillar of Russian financial planning since 2000, was gone.