Essay

Political parties in Russia: artificial Kremlin gadgets or viable

channels of group representation?

EKATERINA TSAREGORODTSEVA
M.A. Politics and Economics in Eurasia, MGIMO, 2014

Ekaterina Tsaregorodtseva

Political Parties in Russia

Introduction
The most widespread criticism of Russia in the modern civilized world
is probably the alleged lack of democracy in the country. It often stands accused
by Western politicians of allowing a level of political pluralism that cannot
represent an actual threat to its current regime and only serves as a faade for a
phony democracy.
However, the Russian political landscape does present numerous political
parties, non-governmental organizations and various civil society structures, as
well as individual figures of opposition, for example, Mikhail Khodorkovsky
and many others. Therefore the question we will seek to answer through the
present essay is the following: are opposition parties merely puppets of the
Stateallowing for a certain level of managed pluralismor is there some real
and viable opposition force?
We will start by a rapid historical overview of the emergence of political
pluralism in Russia, then we will analyze the present-day situation of systemic
and non-systemic actors of Russian opposition. Finally, we will study the
emergence of a new mechanism of recruitment of the political elite in Russia.
This mechanism may lay the foundation for a future political order that is
alternative to the classical democratic process.

The Emergence of Political Pluralism in Russia

In the Soviet Union, the Communist party was the supreme party. However,
even before the collapse of the USSR, in 1990, the suppression of the article n6
of the Soviet Constitution signaled the beginning of an era of political
pluralism. Behind this initiative was one of the most famous soviet dissidents,
Andrei Sakharov, and it was backed by massive popular demonstrations in
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Political Parties in Russia

Moscow on February 4th, 1990. After the collapse of the Union, political parties
flourished here and there in Russia. However, they did not yet have neither
political experience, nor clear political platform to effectively compete in
parliamentary or presidential elections. The chaos of the 1990s had little to do
with the concept of democracy: in 1996, Boris Yeltsinbacked by oligarchs who
conducted numerous PR campaignswon the presidential elections although it
was the Communist party which was the front-runner in opinion polls.
After this period of democratization in the 1990s, conditions for the
creation of a political party were tightened under Vladimir Putin. For example,
the minimum threshold to be represented in Parliament has been increased from
5 to 7% in Russia in 2006. Given that most European democracies have a
threshold of 5% and that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(PACE) recommends not setting a threshold higher than 3%, criticism of Russia
for making access to Parliament more difficult for new parties seems legitimate.
However, it is interesting to note that in 2007 and 2011 no parties have
surpassed 4% of votes (apart from United Russia, the Communist Party,
Spravedlivaya Rossiya and the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia).
Moreover, starting from 2016, the threshold is to be decreased back to 5%. As
for the minimum number of members and representation of a minimum number
of federal subjects, these conditions seems rather adequate for a country of the
scale of Russia. More than that, United Russia, often accused of having too
much power, has actually lost 77 seats in the State Duma in 2011 elections, as
compared to the 2007 elections.
The official rhetoric on political pluralism is in favor of the latter. For
instance, in 2006, at a session of the Valdai Discussion Club in Novo-Ogarevo,
Vladimir Putin acknowledged: We need to continue developing our countrys

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political system. We need to establish a truly multiparty system []1. A great

effort was made in making the voting process more transparent. It would have
served Vladimir Putin the first place: after proving he has been elected (and reelected) in a fair way, his presidency would only be consolidated and
legitimized. Nevertheless, even after the efforts of Russia to achieve democratic
and transparent elections, the West remains suspicious.

Russia's Political Landscape

Systemic opposition parties are present in the Russian parliament, but do not
hold the majority of seats, which belong to United Russia. Among them, the
Communist Party is the second biggest party in the State Duma today (19,19 %
of votes in 2011, e.g. 92 seats). If we analyze the rhetoric of the party leader,
Gennady Zyuganov, we can see that some of it is consistent with the
United Russia s general political course. For example, G. Zyuganov has
backed the idea of the creation of a Eurasian union2 (since it is reminiscent of
the Soviet Union) and supported Vladimir Putin in determining a new national
idea3.
The Liberal Democratic Party of Russia and its leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky
are often considered by the West as the archetype of phony opposition. Thus,
the German journal Der Spiegel depicts Zhirinovsky as Putins most loyal
opponent, who follows the course of United Russia when it comes to taking
1

Vladimir Putins meeting with participants in the third meeting of the Valdai Discussion
Club, 9 September 2006. <http://eng.news.kremlin.ru/transcripts/8351>
2
G. Zyuganov: I will do everything to see the Eurasian Union succeed, official website of
the
Communist
Party
of
the
Russian
Federation,
28 December 2012.
<http://kprf.ru/rusk/113973.html>
3
G. Zyuganov: Our country cannot survive without a national idea, official website of the
Communist Party of the Russian Federation, 20 September 2013. <http://kprf.ru/partylive/cknews/123292.html>
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decision on the main political issues, all while harshly criticizing the incumbent
regime4. The LDPR has seldom opposed major legislative proposals drafted by
United Russia. It is generally anti-Western (mostly anti-American) and
nationalist in its rhetoric5. This can be considered consistent with the Kremlins
desire to find a third way for Russia and not blindly follow the Western
model of development.
Finally, Spravedlivaya Rossiya s Sergei Mironov has repeatedly admitted
supporting the position of V. Putin on several matters. The party itself has
played the role of a left-leaning opponent of United Russia (just not of
Vladimir Putin).

Actual

opponents

of

the

regime

(Dmitri Gudkov,

Gennady Gudkov, Ilya Ponomarev), who took part in 2011-2013 street protests,
were asked to to choose, within a month, between either being members of
Spravedlivaya Rossiya, or being members of civic organizations, whose
political aims go against the partys interests.6 Gudkov father and son did leave
the party, Ponomarev remained. However, after being the only Member of
Parliament to vote against the annexation of Crimea, he was asked once again
by S. Mironov to leave the party. 7 Although the four systemic parties do
disagree on a number of domestic issues, it is true that they have achieved a
consensus on matters of foreign policy, especially in the present-day situation,

The Nationalist Zhirinovsky: Putins Most Loyal Opponent, Der Spiegel Online,
1 March 2012.
<http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/nationalist-schirinowski-putinstreuester-gegner-a-818348.html>
5
Vladimir Zhirinovsky and the LDPR, Foreign Policy, 7 November 2011,
<http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2011/11/07/vladimir-zhirinovsky-and-the-ldpr/>
6
V. Kara-Murza, Back on the Leash: The End for A Just Russia, Institute of Modern
Russia, 29 January 2013. <http://imrussia.org/en/politics/377-back-on-the-leash-the-end-fora-just-russia>
7
Mironov Asks Ponomarev to Give Up His Mandate, ITAR-TASS, 29 April 2014.
<http://itar-tass.com/politika/1156831>
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after the Ukrainian crisis. In that way they are supportive of the Kremlins
political course.
On the other hand, the non-systemic oppositionsuch as parties that did not
pass the threshold into State Duma or various NGOs and individual political
figuresplay an important role in Russian politics. The party Yabloko, created
in 1993, promotes the ideas of democracy and social liberalism. It was fairly
popular during the 1990s, since then, however, public support for it has
decreased and Yabloko missed the required threshold to get into Duma both in
2007 and 2011. There were rumors, not backed by proof, that the party received
foreign financing. However, the party did receive practical assistance from
foreign organizations. For example, the US National Democratic Institute (NDI)
has held seminars for Yabloko on subjects like regional party building and
campaigning strategy and techniques. 8 Moreover, Mikhail Khodorkovsky
provided financial backing for the party, as Yavlinsky himself admitted several
times.9 These facts might be one of the reasons for the decline in Yablokos
popular support, as Russians in general disapprove of foreign backing for a
party

and

have

little

compassion

for

the

oligarch

in

disgrace

Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Opposition parties in Russia do exist and are not less legitimate than
opposition parties in any other democratic country. Even if their political course
is either consistent with the Kremlins, or is almost irrelevant due to their little
influence on Russian politics, they do prove there is some political pluralism in

D. White, The Russian Democratic Party Yabloko: Opposition in a Managed Democracy,

Burlington, VT : Ashgate, 2006.
9
Ibid.
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Russia, but more importantly they serve as a background on which the current
political regime looks more fair and efficient in the eyes of the population. What
might be more important is that the real confrontation is taking place within the
ranks of the executive power between the supporters of liberal economy, often
associated with the rule of oligarchs, and hommes dtat or gosudarstvenniki.
Liberal economists are the people who have participated in and benefited
from the creation of the Russian liberal economy of the 1990s. Today they want
to maintain, at least, this level of liberalization to keep the privileges they have
acquired in the 1990s. On the other hand, state oriented politicians, with
Vladimir Putin as their leader, want more the economy to serve the State and
not the other way around. The opposition between them, although implicit,
appears more real than the one between different parties in Parliament.
Vladimir Putin, it seems, tries to remain above such confrontation, and his
political course includes both reinforcing the State in itself and taking some
liberalization measures to boost the economy.

Emergence of a New Elite?

Any viable political regime relies on a mechanism of renewal of its elite.
Before 1917, this mechanism allowed for little social mobility because it was
based on aristocracy and bloodlines and seldom allowed people from the
bottom to gain access to top-level state functions. After 1917, the mechanism
of recruiting the elite radically changed: anyone gifted or active enough could
work their way up to the top of the political pyramid, through the social ledges
created by the Communist party. After the 1990s, the mechanism changed again
with the emergence of a class of businessmen; they first acquired material goods
and then sought to satisfy their political ambitions. This oligarchic rule allowed

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for rampant corruption and only let into governing ranks people with substantial
financial power.
Today one might consider that another shift in the recruiting of the elite is
taking place. Its goal would to be to distance the business class from power, and
instead replace it with people interested in the well being of the country and not
only in personal profit. Measures consistent with this theory are for example the
reinforcement of the army. Military men have a very different mindset from the
business cast: their priority is being loyal to the country and serving its
interests. In the same way, in his annual address to the State Duma (2014),
Vladimir Putin

highlighted

the

necessity

to

support

the

productive

intelligentsia class (such as teachers, doctors, engineers, technical

professionals and so on) as they lay the basis for the industrial and economic
development of the country 10 . They are thus distinguished from the usual
creative intelligentsia, which produces nothing of material value. Moreover,
the President insists on further liberalization of economy, and not for
comforting the oligarchs positions, but with the aim of developing small and
medium businesses and enterprises in the non-state sector (which in Western
countries sometimes make up to nearly half of the GDP).11
The mechanism of consolidation of a new elite (today still on an embryonic
stage) might be the nation-wide movement, People's Front for Russia (ONF)
(Obschenarodny Rossijski Front), under the leadership of Vladimir Putin.
According to the Manifest of the movement, its aim is to gather people loyal to

10

Vladimir Putins Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly, 4 December 2014.

<http://eng.kremlin.ru/news/23341>
11
Can small business help Russia bear West's sanctions? Putin hopes so, Christian Science
Monitor, 4 December 2014. <http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2014/1204/Cansmall-business-help-Russia-bear-West-s-sanctions-Putin-hopes-so.-video>
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the country and willing to work for its future and prosperity.12 The ONF would
allow them to apply their skills for the good and future of Russia by
implementing new means of social mobility. It will favor the ascension of a
new, result-oriented and loyal elite, badly needed by the State in the first place.
Interestingly enough, the movement refers to itself as a suprapartisan entity
( )13, possibly hinting at the possibility of an elite
recruitment and renewal that would be alternative to todays election process. If
the ONF does succeed in this enterprise, it would significantly reduce the role
of political pluralism in its classical democratic sense.

Conclusion
With its representative system and effort of transparency, the principle of
democracy seems to be formally respected more in Russia than in some Western
countries. Plus, any regime needs a constructive opposition that provides new
ideas and serves as a source of objective criticism. The original activities of
A. Navalny were indeed useful and allowed to stop some corrupted politicians,
until he decided to go into politics himself, without having any consistent and
credible political program. Using populist rhetoric, non-constructive opposition
merely exploits popular discontent (which is always present, in any country, in
different proportions) and often does so in order to gain political power for
itself. In this sense it can be associated to color revolutions and foreign agents
who aim at toppling the regime and grasping political power.
Are political parties in Russia artificial Kremlin gadgets or viable
channels of representation? The answer would be neither. The current regime

12
13

Manifest of the People's Front for Russia. <http://onf.ru/structure/documents-1/>

Ibid.
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is not purely a puppeteer holding the strings of the systemic opposition,

however it is also far from the Wests utopic vision of democracy. The systemic
opposition within the State Duma is supportive of Vladimir Putins course and
willing to collaborate with the party in power. Widely unpopular (except
perhaps in Moscow and some other major cities), but also hardly credible nonsystemic opposition makes the current regime look reliable and efficient in the
eyes of the population. Approval ratings for Vladimir Putins policies are
always high.14
Todays developments in Russian politics under the leadership of
Vladimir Putin can be considered as a transition period from the profit-based
recruitment of elite to a new result-oriented and loyalty-based mechanism of
social mobility. The ONF might be the prototype of an organizational
framework for such a mechanism. Whether this would be a viable scenario
remains to be seen: it will become clear after the country survives (or not) the
current political crisis and economic sanctions. However, it is likely that with a
purely oligarchic elite like in the 1990s, the country would have disintegrated
already.

14

Approval of Vladimir Putin

<http://www.levada.ru/indeksy>

(1996-2014),

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Levada

Center

opinion

polls.