02.2008 - Source: CIA World Factbook

Political parties and leaders - overview ("CIA World Factbook 2008: Russia") [ID 11082]

"Agrarian Party [Vladimir PLOTNIKOV]
A Just Russia or JR [Sergey MIRONOV] (formed from the merger of three small political parties: Rodina (Motherland), Pensioners Party, and Party of Life)
Civic Force [Mikhail BARSHCHEVSKIY]
Communist Party of the Russian Federation or CPRF [Gennadiy Andreyevich ZYUGANOV]
Democratic Party [Andrey BOGDANOV]
Green Party [Anatoliy PANFILOV]
Liberal Democratic Party of Russia or LDPR [Vladimir Volfovich ZHIRINOVSKIY]
Party of Russia's Rebirth [Gennadiy SELEZNEV]
Patriots of Russia [Gennadiy SEMIGIN]
Peace and Unity Party [Sazhi UMALATOVA]
People's Union [Sergey BABURIN]
Social Justice Party [Arkadiy GAYDAMAK]
Union of Right Forces or SPS [Nikita BELYKH]
United Russia or UR [Boris Vyacheslavovich GRYZLOV]
Yabloko Party [Grigoriy Alekseyevich YAVLINSKIY]"

Document(s): CIA World Factbook 2008: Russia

05.05.2007 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Seven months before parliamentary elections a new nationalist party has been founded by Dmitry Rogozin ("New Nationalist Party Founded In Russia") [ID 19798]

Document(s): Open document

24.03.2007 - Source: Guardian

Liberal Republican party banned by court; part of a Kremlin-inspired campaign to crack down on dissent, says opposition ("Court ban on liberal party wipes out opposition to Putin") [ID 19447]

Document(s): Open document

28.01.2007 - Source: BBC News

One of leading liberal political parties, Yabloko, has been banned from local elections in St Petersburg; electoral commission said too many supporting signatures had been invalid ("Russia's party barred from polls") [ID 18586]

Document(s): Open document

23.10.2006 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Authorities have refused to register opposition party led by former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov ("Former Russian Premier's Party Barred") [ID 17459]

Document(s): Open document

01.2006 - Source: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung

Report on system of political parties (formation, influence of electoral system of formation of political parties, functions of political parties, state policy towards political parties, profiles of most important political parties, perspectives for development) ("Das Parteiensystem Russlands; Grundlagen und Entwicklungsszenarien") [#42338], [ID 17775]

Document(s): Open document

16.08.2005 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Ban lifted on National Boshevik Party ("Russia Lifts Ban On Nationalist Party") [#35498], [ID 11078]

Document(s): Open document

15.06.2005 - Source: Freedom House

Russia’s political party system is in trouble; weakening position of the opposition parties ("Nations in Transit 2005") [#32939], [ID 11079]

"The presidential elections show that Putin was not willing to tolerate the existence of an opposition. Even though his victory was assured long before election day, his team worked hard to guarantee that no other candidate registered a significant protest vote, noted Transitions Online. As a result, Russia's political party system is in trouble. After the December 2003 State Duma elections, essentially no important parties represented the liberal end of the political spectrum. The two major parties that support this ideology, the Union of Right Forces (SPS) and Yabloko, have largely collapsed. Former presidential candidate and SPS leader Irina Khakamada set up a new party called Our Choice on November 1, hoping to unify liberal voters, but its initial prospects are not bright. On the other end of the spectrum, the Communist Party is growing increasingly weaker. Without a major overhaul of personnel and policies, it will continue to decline.
Given the Kremlin's crackdown on media, business, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), there are few opportunities for an opposition leader to emerge. Unfortunately, the opposition failed to capitalize even on the openings it did have. During 2004, it did not spell out an articulate alternative to Putin's policies that resonated with the population, nor did it effectively mobilize support.
Only parties set up by the Kremlin seem to be advancing. United Russia is not a party in the traditional sense, but a collection of powerful government officials that attracts new members who are interested in access to state resources. On October 27, the Federation Council approved revisions to the Law on the Russian Government that make it possible for government officials to be the leaders of political parties, further boosting United Russia's prospects.
Rodina also has strong Kremlin ties since the authorities set it up as a "constructive opposition" designed to take votes from the Left. Since it has evolved toward nationalist issues, however, Rodina has become more independent."

Document(s): Open document

15.06.2005 - Source: Freedom House

Moving to exclusive party list voting is expected to bring major benefits to the Kremlin ("Nations in Transit 2005") [#32939], [ID 11080]

"Putin used the shock of the Beslan attack to propose major changes in the way State Duma deputies are elected to the Parliament's lower house. Instead of the current method, in which voters choose half of their representatives by party list and half through single-member districts, Putin seeks to change the system so that all deputies are elected on the basis of party lists. Legislation was still under consideration on this issue at the beginning of 2005. Additionally, the Kremlin secured legislative approval to increase from 10,000 to 50,000 the number of members a party needs to register.
Moving to exclusive party list voting is expected to bring major benefits to the Kremlin. Under the old system, governors often controlled who was elected from single-member districts. Even though many governor-sponsored State Duma candidates ran under the United Russia label, their first loyalty was often to the governor and they represented regional interests in the lower house of the Parliament. The new system would break the connection between State Duma members and the regions. The political parties will be based in Moscow, making it easier for the Kremlin to influence whom they select for their party lists. Since the Kremlin already has extensive control over the current Duma, this reform seems designed to ensure that the Russian president is able to keep the Duma under his thumb."

Document(s): Open document

03.06.2005 - Source: Council of Europe - Parliamentary Assembly

Amendments to the Law on political parties adopted in December 2004: Higher tresholds for minor and regional parties ("Honouring of obligations and commitments by the Russian Federation [Doc. 10568]") [#32710], [ID 11081]

"36. The changes of the mixed electoral system to a fully proportional one24, also announced by President Putin on 13 September, have been submitted to the State Duma on 8 December, adopted in the first reading on 24 December 2004 and in the second reading – on 15 April 2005. Parliamentary elections in 2007 will therefore be the first conducted on the basis of a fully proportional system, with a new, higher 7% threshold (envisaged in the law adopted in 2002 and also proposed by the new draft law) and with no possibility for election blocs to participate. In such conditions, the prospects of any meaningful and viable opposition to the pro-presidential parties in the parliament will be seriously undermined.

37. Also in December 2004, the State Duma adopted in the final reading and the President signed the amendments to the Law on political parties which increase the number of members a political party must have in order to be registered from 10,000 to 50,000. The Law also requires parties to have branches of at least 500 members in more than half of the Federation's 89 subjects and branches of at least 250 in the rest of them (instead of 100 and 50 members respectively according to the previous wording). In order to be allowed to run in the 2007 Duma elections, political parties have to register the minimum number of members by 1 January 2006. These new requirements clearly benefit the parties currently represented in the State Duma – United Russia, Motherland and the Liberal Democratic Party – who all sponsored the draft law – as well as the opposition Communist Party who has some 500,000 members. In contrast, liberal parties Yabloko and the Union of Right Forces, who had both failed to clear the 5% threshold to enter the State Duma, are facing an uphill battle to qualify for the next elections in 200725.

38. In February 2005, the Federal Constitutional Court handed down its decision on the constitutionality of the provisions of the Law on political parties (in its previous wording) concerning the requirements to the parties in terms of the number of regional branches and number of members (decision on the appeal of the public organisation "Baltic Republican Party" from Kaliningrad). The Court ruled that "in the current circumstances, when there are serious challenges on behalf of the separatist, nationalist, and terrorist forces, who tend to abuse their constitutional rights and freedoms, and whereas the Russian society did not yet gain lasting experience of democratic life, creation of regional political parties, which aim at defending their regional and local interests, would lead to the destruction of state integrity and unity of the state governance system as a basis of the federal constitution of Russia." The Court also referred to the 'political expediency' as a criterion for the legislature's discretion in fixing the minimum number of parties' members and requirements to their territorial spread."

Document(s): Open document

21.04.2005 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Amendmends to Russian electoral law ban formation of electoral blocs to contest federal, regional or local elections; this reform is a part of so-called vertical of power politics ("Russia: Attempting To Block The Blocs") [#31558], [ID 11150]

Document(s): Open document

2002 - Source:

NUPI: Political groups and parties ("NUPI: Political groups and parties") [ID 11085]

Document(s): NUPI: Political groups and parties