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Angus Reid Global Monitor : Polls & Research
Political Parties are Ineffective for Russians
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Many people in Russia still think the country's political parties have a marginal role in the nation's life, according to a poll by Public Opinion Foundation. 44 per cent of respondents say the role of political parties in the country is negligible, while 33 per cent deem it significant.
Russian president Vladimir Putin was elected to a second term as president in March 2004 with 71.31 per cent of all cast ballots. 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 Apr. 13, the Russian Supreme Court banned the Social Democratic Party of Russia (SDPRF), which was re-established in 2001 by former Soviet Union president Mikhail Gorbachev. The party's current leader, Vladimir Kishenin, said the Supreme Court's decision was "purely political", and announced an appeal, declaring, "I regret that the court has banned Russia's oldest party, which turned 109 earlier this year."
Russian voters are scheduled to renew the State Duma on Dec. 2.
Polling Data
How would you rate the role of political parties in the nation's life?
Apr. 2007 | Jun. 2006 | |
Significant | 33% | 32% |
Negligible | 44% | 46% |
Hard to answer | 23% | 22% |
Source: Public Opinion Foundation
Methodology: Face-to-face interviews with 1,500 Russian adults, conducted on Mar. 31 and Apr. 1, 2006. Margin of error is 3.6 per cent.