In the election of the Russian State Duma, the four-party structure remained unchanged

Source: Global Times

On September 19, Russia held elections for the State Duma (the lower house of parliament). The ruling United Russia Party maintains a constitutional majority and all intact powers. On 12 October, Volodín, the candidate for the presidency of the State Duma, elected by the United Russia Party, was re-elected president of the State Duma.

Since its founding in 2001, the United Russia Party, which is closely associated with President Putin, has never lost its position as the largest party in parliamentary elections. 2021 is no exception, and although the party lost 19 seats compared to 2016, it still maintains a constitutional majority (324 seats) in the Duma. In addition, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (57 seats), the Just Russia Party (27 seats) and the Russian Liberal Democratic Party (21 seats) entered parliament. In addition to the traditional parliamentary four parties, the New Party, founded in 2020, won 13 seats and entered the State Duma for the first time.

Speaking of the election results, Moscow Mayor Sobyanin, a member of the Supreme Committee of the United Russia Party, shouted: "Putin, Putin, Putin ... victory! This sentence well portrays the main line of Russian state policy until the next election: Putin is the president, the United Russia Party is the ruling party, and there is no other choice or competitor. Nevertheless, political scientists argue that society has a certain demand for innovation.

The Russian Communist Party is still alive and popular

As in previous years, it was followed by the United Russia Party, and the second place in the election was the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. For more than 20 years, the party has been Russia's largest opposition party, at least among those approved to run. In 2021, the Russian Communist Party performed well in the elections, and the number of duma groups increased from 48 to 57. Although some consider it "old" (referring to the ideology of the Russian Communist Party based on nostalgia for the Soviet Union, and the leader Zyuganov is 77 years old), the Russian Communist Party is still alive and rising in popularity. The protests launched by the party have also attracted attention.

Andrey Kolesnikov, head of the "Russian domestic politics" program at the Carnegie Center in Moscow, believes that the Russian Communist Party has succeeded in locking in some of the votes: those who pursue Soviet values and more social justice, and those who are dissatisfied with the current regime. "From the point of view of dissatisfaction with the status quo, there is no better option than the Russian Communist Party," he said. ”

At the same time, Kolesnikov referred to a survey recently done by the Levada Center. The results show that 49 percent of Russians believe that the Soviet political system is best suited for Russia. He believed that the basic situation of the Russian Communist Party was a stratum that depended on the state's social security but was dissatisfied with the United Russia Party.

"Responsible Opposition"

Political scientists agree, however, that the Russian Communist Party is an opposition loyal to the authorities and that Zyuganov does not intend to lead the protests at the risk of losing his parliamentary status for the ambiguous prospects. The increased interest of regime opponents in russian society in the current Russian society in the Russian Communist Party is a problem for him. Political scientist Ekaterina Shulmann said: "The radicalization of the Russian Communist Party is almost against its own will. I think it is clear that its current leaders do not want to see this process and are terrified of it. ”

In this case, Zyuganov is faced with a difficult task: on the one hand, to maintain the popularity and opposition role of the party, on the other hand, not to go too far, so as not to lose his position on the track of loyalty to the authorities. The Protests of the Russian Communist Party against what it considered electoral fraud are telling. After party members who disseminated information about illegal assemblies were fined and detained, Zyuganov wrote a letter to President Putin, stressing that the Russian Communist Party is "a responsible and constructive opposition that supports all causes of strengthening the country" and requesting the release of party members. The Russian Communist Party abandoned further protests.

Puzzling new party

Another result of the 2021 elections is the appearance of the New Party in the Russian State Duma. Since 2007, the structure of the four parties in parliament (United Russia, the Russian Communist Party, the Russian Liberal Democratic Party, and the Just Russia Party) has remained unchanged. The New Party, which passed the 5 percent election threshold, was founded in March 2020 by businessman Aleksey Nechaev. At present, the party has almost no well-known leaders at the federal level, and its middle-right program is rather vague and generally not much different from those that have not entered the Duma.

Still, they got decent votes. Evgeny Minchenko, a political analyst and president of the Russian Public Relations Association (RASO), links the success of the New Party to society's demand for gradual change. "Actually, they don't need any slogans," he said. 'Newcomer' is the slogan. ”

Political analyst Petr Bystrov believes that the New Party is a party for young voters and is quite loyal to the Kremlin. He said: "The party's target voters are young people. These voters want something new, so they get a new party. It is unclear how this party, which has entered parliament with an absolutely abstract "new" aspiration, will behave in the Duma and whether it will remain there for long.

Basically maintain the status quo

Speaking of the entire parliament, Minchenko said: "No matter what party's representatives enter the Russian parliament, they will support the ruling party, they all act within the rules defined by the Kremlin and do not intend to take any out-of-the-ordinary action." Even if some want to do so, The United Russia Party will maintain a constitutional majority anyway, which is enough to guarantee its independence in making any decisions. The vertical system of power still looks unshakable. However, the above details reflect emerging social trends that Russian politicians should consider. ”

This article is published in the Global Times "Russia Perspective" special issue, the content is provided by the "Russian newspaper".