(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - One-in-four Russian adults are satisfied with what 2007 brought, according to a poll by the Yury Levada Analytical Center. 24 per cent of respondents rate the year in a positive light, up three points since 2006.

Three-in-five respondents believe 2007 was an average year, and 12 per cent deem it bad or very bad.

Vladimir Putin was elected to a second term as president in March 2004 with 71.31 per cent of all cast ballots. In April 2005, Putin ruled out seeking a new mandate, saying, "I will not change the constitution and in line with the constitution, you cannot run for president three times in a row." The next presidential election in Russia is scheduled for Mar. 2.

Russian voters renewed the State Duma on Dec. 2. United Russia (YR)—whose candidate list was headed by Putin—secured 64.1 per cent of the vote and 315 of the legislature’s 450 seats. Under the country’s recently implemented proportional representation system, only three other political organizations—the Communist Party (KPRF), the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) and A Just Russia—elected lawmakers to the lower house.

Last month, Putin endorsed current deputy prime minister Dmitry Medvedev as a presidential candidate, and Medvedev said it would be of the "utmost importance" to have Putin as head of government.

On Dec. 26, Union of Right Forces (SPS) presidential candidate Boris Nemtsov withdrew from the race, saying, "I had always hoped there would be a single candidate from a united democratic opposition, and this did not happen." Nemtsov also accused the Kremlin of exerting "improper pressure" on the opposition, and turning the election into a "clear-cut farce."

Polling Data

How would you rate this year as a whole?

Source: Yury Levada Analytical Center
Methodology: Interviews with 1,600 Russian adults, conducted from Dec. 21 to Dec. 24, 2007. No margin of error was provided.

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