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The election
cycle of December 2003 has provided further evidence that the
influence of the “old” parliamentary parties is decreasing and
Russia is moving toward a hegemonic one-party system. The main
result of the 2003 elections has been a further consolidation of the
political supremacy of the “party of bosses,” United Russia, led by
Boris Gryzlov, who has also become the speaker of the Fourth Duma.
Although Putin is not formally a member of any party, United Russia
is directly and publicly associated with the president and the state
apparatus both of the federal and region levels. |
Although it
garnered 37.09 percent on the
party-list vote, United Russia managed to
lure into its ranks deputies from other parliamentary factions,
including some independents, and has established its control
of the two-thirds majority in the Duma (68% of all seats). In other
words, United Russia now commands the majority big enough to make
amendments to the Constitution.
December 2003 Election to the State Duma
|
Successful parties/blocs |
Party-list votes % |
|
United Russia |
37.09 |
|
CPRF |
12.67 |
|
LDPR |
11.61 |
|
Motherland |
9.07 |
|
Yabloko |
4.34 |
|
Union of Right
Forces |
3.96 |
The 2003
elections have also resulted in a significant weakening of the
Communists who have lost nearly half of the seats they had in the
previous Duma. At the same time, the two populist parties –
Zhirinovsky’s LDPR and the newcomer Motherland, which exploited
nationalist and “antioligarchical” slogans – have staged a surprise
success. The two liberal parties – Yabloko and the Union of Right
Forces – suffered a humiliating defeat failing to overcome the five
percent minimal threshold needed to enter the parliament.
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