The Sunday elections of Russian State Duma have shown that the Russian electors do not see as of now a serious alternative to the “party of power” headed by Vladimir Putin – United Russia, yet they do not cherish an illusion with regard to the efficiency of its ruling.
According to the preliminary count of votes as of this morning the ruling United Russia will get about 50 percent of votes thus losing the constitutional majority – 2/3 in State Duma; the party had such majority in the lower house of the previous parliament. Oppositional Communist Party will get about 20 percent of votes. The remaining seats have been distributed between Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) and A Just Russia that in most cases vote in the parliament similar to the “party of power”. Thus, the Government and the President will most likely have no problems with the parliament in the coming 5 years.
The relative failure of United Russia is explained, first of all, by the fact that the life of ordinary Russians has not improved radically during the last 10 years, no essential measures were taken against corruption that has affected all government bodies of the country. Putin’s image of the person “who raised Russia from its knees” has somewhat faded against such background. In addition, the psychological factor plays a certain role as well. Should Putin announce, coming to power in 2000, “I am the Tsar and will rule all my life”, such an approach would have been more comprehensible for Russian voters than the “democratic maneuver” with temporary transfer of nominal authority to President Dmitry Medvedev.
Oppositional forces and independent non-government organizations cast doubt even on the 50 percent that by official data United Russia won at elections. Gennady Zyuganov, leader of the Communists, announces about falsifications in Moscow, Krasnodar, Rostov-on-Don. AP quotes former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov as saying that “these were not free and not elections”. BBC states: “Russian language has been enriched with a new term – “carousel”. In this respect Armenia has outrun its strategic ally since the concept of “election carousel” when the same person votes several times has been known in Armenia since 1995.
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Aram Abrahamyan
