If the March 2007 regional elections in Russia are a harbinger of things to come, then the subsequent parliamentary and presidential elections will keep power in the hands of Vladimir Putin supporters. The aspirations for democratic reforms and freedoms both in the political and economic realm after the dissolution of the Soviet Union now seem to be fading. Russian President Vladimir Putin has used his office and position of authority to consolidate the power of the state over its citizenry. Under Putin, the state has re-gained control of many economic sectors, stamped out free speech and increased government control and autocracy. He has also used national security and the fight against terrorism to justify some of his “political reforms” such as appointing governors of provinces instead of electing them.
The Russian government has instituted changes to its election system to strengthen the multi-party system by streamlining it into two or three parties. The threshold of votes was raised to secure actual seats and minimum voter turnout numbers were lowered. Electoral changes in effect are designed to keep new parties out of the political process and maintain the power of pro-Putin parties. Yabloko, a liberal opposition party, was banned in four of nine regional races because they failed to meet defined election criteria. In those regions Yabloko was permitted to run, however the party had a very poor showing in the regions.
A Fair Russia, another pro-Kremlin party, did well in the polls considering it is relatively new. Fair Russia claims it is opposed to the current political power base but supports Putin. There are suspicions that this party is really a puppet party to give the appearance that there is some competition in the election process and to detract voters from the real opposition parties. However, it seems that the real opposition parties are effectively handicapped from the beginning of the process. Current elections are likely a dry run for the more important parliamentary and presidential elections. Although President Putin will step down in 2008, it is likely he will still be very involved in the presidential electoral process, helping to “guide” the election.
