(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – A third of adults in Russia believe their previous democratic processes have lacked transparency, according to a poll by the Public Opinion Foundation. 34 per cent of respondents think the elections to Russia’s State Duma have not been free and fair over the past 15 years, and 61 per cent expect no changes before this year’s ballot.
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – A third of adults in Russia believe their previous democratic processes have lacked transparency, according to a poll by the Public Opinion Foundation. 34 per cent of respondents think the elections to Russia’s State Duma have not been free and fair over the past 15 years, and 61 per cent expect no changes before this year’s ballot.
Vladimir Putin was elected to a second term as Russia’s president in March 2004 with 71.31 per cent of all cast ballots. In June 2006, Central Election Commission (CEC) chairman Alexander Veshnyakov confirmed that there are “no legal bans” for a Putin candidacy in 2012.
In 2005, Putin presented his plan to change the allocation of seats in the State Duma, electing all 450 lawmakers on party lists, allowing electronic votes, establishing a single election date for the entire country and raising state subsidies for parties represented in the lower house to $21.5 million U.S.
The proposal also lifts the threshold to earn seats in the State Duma from five per cent to seven per cent. In the 2003 election, only four political parties—the pro-Kremlin United Russia (YR), the Communist Party (KPRF), the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) and the Motherland – National Patriotic Union (MDRT)—received more than seven per cent of the vote.
On May 28, the opposition group Other Russia—which has organized several public demonstrations all across the country—said it had applied for permission to stage marches in Moscow and St. Petersburg in order to call for free and open elections in December. A similar march was held in Moscow in April, and about 250 people were detained, including the leader of the United Civil Front, former world chess champion Garry Kasparov.
Russian voters are scheduled to renew the State Duma on Dec. 2.
Polling Data
In general, do you believe parliamentary elections in Russia have been free and fair over the past 15 years?
Yes | 26% |
No | 34% |
Hard to answer | 39% |
Do you think the December State Duma elections will be more, less or equally free and fair as previous elections?
More | 7% |
The same | 61% |
Less | 7% |
Hard to answer | 25% |
Source: Public Opinion Foundation
Methodology: Face-to-face interviews with 1,500 Russian adults, conducted on May 19 and May 20, 2007. Margin of error is 3.6 per cent.
