What is the name of the political party? This question is asked not only by beginning politicians, but by everyone who is interested in social life and wants to someday get into the highest echelons of power. This question seems superficial only at first glance, but in reality not every politician can give an answer to it. However, the list of political parties in Russia shows that originality in this matter is not at all important - the main thing is that the name be capacious and reflect the ideological platform of the organization.
Who is who in Russian politics
The Russian Federation has a multi-party system. As of 2018, six parties have members in the federal parliament, the State Duma with one dominant party (United Russia).
Many are interested in the question, how many political parties are there in Russia at the moment. But the fact is that their number is constantly changing. After the reforms of Perestroika in the 1980s, there were more than 100 registered parties in Russia, but deputies elected to the State Duma represented only a small number of them. After 2000, during the first presidency of Vladimir Putin (2000-2008), the number of parties declined rapidly. From 2008 to 2012, there were only seven parties in Russia, and each new attempt to register new independent parties was blocked by the Central Election Commission. The last registered party of this period was the opposition organization Right Cause (registered on February 18, 2009, now the Growth Party). Prior to the 2011 parliamentary elections, about 10 opposition parties were unregistered. However, after a series of mass protests and a 2011 decision of the European Court in the Republican Party of Russia case, the law changed and the number of registered parties increased to 67 as of February 2018.
"Party of power" in Russia
In Russian politics, the “party in power" is a specially created party that unconditionally supports the current president or prime minister in parliament.
At different times, the following organizations were considered "parties in power":
- "Democratic Russia" (1990-1993).
- "Choice of Russia" (1993-1995) and "Party of Unity and Consent of Russia" led by Sergei Shakhrai.
- "Our home is Russia" (1995-1999).
- The Ivan Rybkin Bloc (seen as a potential left-wing “party of power” during the 1995 Russian legislative elections).
- "Unity" (1999-2001 / 2003).
- "Fair Russia" (2006-2008 / 2010, the second "party in power", supporting Vladimir Putin, but opposing "United Russia").
- "United Russia" (from 2001 to the present).
The current composition of the State Duma
The following parties are sitting in the Russian State Duma of the current convocation (the number of seats is shown in brackets):
- United Russia (336).
- Communist Party of the Russian Federation (42).
- LDPR (39).
- "Fair Russia" (23).
Growth Party
After the failure of the economic reforms of the 90s, liberal ideas are not very popular in Russia. Nevertheless, the “Growth Party” is their desperate and convinced champion, and the leader of this party, Boris Titov, even participated in the previous presidential election. She is the successor to Just Cause, the party of the late opposition politician Boris Nemtsov. For some time, it claimed the title of the classic party "against all."
The Just Cause was founded in November 2008 as a result of the merger of three organizations: the Union of Right Forces (ATP), the Civic Initiative and the Democratic Party of Russia. SPS and Civic Initiative were considered liberal parties, supported free-market reform, protection of private property, and decentralization of power. The Democratic Party also supported liberal values, but its program was more conservative and nationalistic in nature.
By 2008, all three parties were in decline. While SPS reached 8.7% of the vote in the 1999 Duma elections, in the 2007 election it received only 0.96%. Support for the Democratic Party (0.13%) and the Civic Initiative (1.05%) in the 2007 elections were also low. SPS, which criticizes Vladimir Putin and United Russia in its 2007 election campaign, is losing voters because Putin has implemented many market reforms advocated by SPS, as well as because sponsors have begun to turn his back on the party. With the drop in support and votes cast by United Russia, three parties, among other things, were considering a merger. The decision to start the merger was made in October 2008, and in November it was completed. A new batch called Just Cause was officially registered on February 18, 2009. The creation of the party was supported by the presidential administration of Dmitry Medvedev.
The merger was supported by the founder of SPS and former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov, and his colleague, the second co-chair of SPS, Anatoly Chubais, a well-known architect of the Russian privatization program, expressed strong support for the merger, saying that “a political party is that force who runs in elections with a chance of winning. " The name of a political party changed more than once before it became what we know it now.
Now the party is positioning itself as an organization supporting entrepreneurs, acting in favor of free market reforms, privatization and the protection of the interests of the middle class. The party supports the “widespread application of the electoral principle”, including direct election of mayors and a gradual return to the election of regional governors. It also supports lowering the threshold for elections to the State Duma from 7% to 5% (the threshold was lowered in 2011). The party platform requires more control over the legislative branch of the executive branch, openness and transparency of the government, as well as freedom of information. In the economy, the party supports a model called “Capitalism for All, ” which emphasizes the development of domestic demand as the main prerequisite for economic diversification, modernization, and the growth of domestic production. The main stimulus for the economy should not be cheap labor, but a high level of income.
According to a 2008 study by Colton, Hale, and McFaul, the main political positions reflected in the party’s program are liberal economics, Westernism, and democracy.
Other little-known parties
In Russia there are other parties, which are not very well-known, but relatively influential, with their already established electorate. One of them is Russia of the Future, formerly known as the People’s Alliance political party, and even earlier, as the Progress Party. It was founded by the leader of the Russian opposition and anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny on May 19, 2018. She never received registration.
The “Russia of the Future” opposes Russian President Vladimir Putin and the ruling United Russia party and, in essence, is a “party against all, ” calling for a reboot of the entire current political system. According to Lyubov Sobol, a companion of Navalny, the party’s goals include “real changes, real reforms, including strengthening property protection, a fair criminal justice system and the fight against corruption so that money from the budget does not flow into offshore and is not spent on yachts and palaces”. The party’s inaugural meeting was attended by 124 delegates from 60 regions of Russia. In fact, it is a typical party of free citizens with different political views, united only by general dissatisfaction with the current Russian government. The party has a central committee of seven, but there is no single chairman.
It is also worth noting the party "For Justice" - the main competitor to "Fair Russia" in the struggle for a moderate-left electorate.
Several batches with truly original names
Russian politics cannot boast of interesting parties, unlike many other countries. There are real eccentrics and originals abroad whose comical activity does not at all prevent them from participating in serious political procedures. When they came up with their party platforms, they used creativity to the maximum. From beer lovers to zombie enthusiasts, these parties (many of which, alas, have already disappeared) have gone down in the history of world parliamentarism, diluting the dull electoral landscape with their brightness and sense of humor.
Polish party "Beer Lovers"
Armed with an absurd name and love of beer, the party made itself felt in Polish politics in 1991, winning 16 seats in the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish parliament, in the first elections after several decades of communist rule. The party was divided into two fractions: “Big beer” and “Little beer”, although its founder, satirist Janusz Revinsky, adhered to the principle: “Beer is not light and not dark, it is tasty.”
Danish Party "Conscientious People Shy to Work"
Danish comedian Jacob Hagaard started the party in 1979 as a joke, but something really funny happened in 1994: he took a seat in the national parliament (Folketing, Denmark). Despite the fact that in pursuit of the imitative platform, promises included better weather, tail on all bike paths and more Renaissance furniture in IKEA stores - Hagaard took his four-year term seriously, as he usually decided to vote in a divided parliament.
Canadian Rhino Party
Party organizers named themselves after the rhinoceros in the 1960s, as rhinos, like politicians, are "pachyderms, slow and not too bright, but can move quickly and skillfully loop when they are in danger." They were inspired by the Brazilian "rhinoceros" Kakareko, who in 1958 made a stunning victory in the local elections, getting to the municipal council of Sao Paulo. After several years in the political arena, the Rhinos in 2007 reappeared in the political jungle, chaired by Brian Salmi, an eccentric character who officially changed his name to Satan.
German party "Anarchists Pogo"
Two punks from Hanover decided that in the 80s Germany there weren’t enough political parties named after hardcore dances (Pogo is a kind of distant relative of the mosh and slam). Thus, they formed the "Anarchist Party of Pogo", the motto of which was the significant phrase: "Saufen! Saufen! Jeden Tag nur saufen ”or“ To drink, to drink, just to drink every day ”, which perfectly described the everyday life of punks and anarchists. Objectives included the expulsion of police officers from Germany, a youth pension instead of an old-age pension, and the “Totale Rückverdummung” or, if in Russian, Germany’s “complete mischief”.
British party "Dungeons, deaths and taxes"
The name of the party (its registered address is a popular tourist destination in London's dungeons) is as ferocious as it seems at first glance. The party’s manifesto includes an obligation to invade and annex France, raise tax rates to 90 percent, re-impose hanging, but “only for minor offenses such as painting graffiti and throwing garbage in the street.” If the Dungeon, Death, and Tax party comes to power, major crimes, such as murder and “misuse of mobile texts, ” will be punished with life imprisonment.
