Russia at the Polls: Potemkin Democracy

Problems of Post-Communism

Volumn 51, Issue 2, 2004, Pages 22-29

  Clark, William A ^a  

^a LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

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EID: 1842632232     PISSN: 10758216     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/10758216.2004.11052159     Document Type: Review

References (37)

1. After the Kremlin-backed Unity outpaced Fatherland-All Russia in the 1999 Duma election, both of the latter's main figures, Iurii Luzhkov and Evgenii Primakov, opted not to run for president. Unity later merged with Fatherland-All Russia in December 2001 to form United Russia.
2. Sergei Markov in a broadcast of the News Hour with Jim Lehrer, December 5, 2003, at www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/europe/july-dec03/russia_12-05.html.
3. Russia's four post-communist Duma elections have offered voters a frequently bewildering set of parties on this portion of the ballot. Thirteen parties appeared on the party-list ballot in the December 1993 election, forty-three in December 1995, twenty-six in December 1999, and twentythree in December 2003.
4. The combined percentage of party-list votes that went to parties that failed to reach the critical 5 percent threshold (i.e., "wasted" votes) was 12.9 percent in 1993, 49.5 percent in 1995, 18.7 percent in 1999, and 29.4 percent in 2003.
5. There was an average of 8.8 candidates per district race in the 2003 election, down somewhat from 1999 (10.3 per district) and 1995 (11.9 per district).
6. In fact, because the Russian ballot still gives voters the option to vote "against all" the candidates in the district races, it is not unusual for no candidate to be elected. In 1999 eight district races were invalidated because no single candidate surpassed the "against all" vote, which averaged 11.5 percent in the districts. For 2003, three single-member district races were voided for this reason, In each case, repeat elections to fill the vacancies took place on the day of the presidential elections three months later.
7. From forty-three parties in 1995 to twenty-six parties in 1999.
8. Even the most important national parties do not contest many of the district races. In 2003, the five most established parties (United Russia, the Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, Yabloko, and the Union of Right Forces) ran candidates, on average, in only 148 of Russia's 225 districts.
9. The law also guarantees state funding for any party that either receives 3 percent of the party-list vote or wins twelve or more single-member district races.
10. The party-list winners in previous elections were the Liberal Democratic Party (1993: 22.9 percent), and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (1995: 22.3 percent and 1999: 24.3 percent).
11. Many of these officials allowed themselves to be placed on United Russia's fifteen-person federal party list and on its regional lists to strengthen the party, although they had no intention whatever of resigning their offices to take a Duma seat. Only four of the fifteen members of United Russia's federal list actually took Duma seats. The other three party-list winners (the Communist Party, Motherland, and the Liberal Democratic Party) seated all fifteen members of their federal lists. See Rezultaty vyborov deputatov Gosudarstvennoi Dumy v federalnom izbiratelnom okruge (Results of the Election of Deputies of the State Duma in the Federal Election District), available at http://gd2003.cikrf.ru.
12. National parties have not traditionally performed well in the single-member district races. However, in 2003, they did better. United Russia won 104 of the 144 district seats it contested, The number of non-party independent candidates who won district races was a comparatively modest sixty-seven (compared to 141 in 1993, 77 in 1995, and 112 in 1999), perhaps indicating growing partisanship in Russian voting behavior.
13. The LDPR won 22.9 percent, 11.2 percent, and 6.0 percent, respectively, on the 1993, 1995, and 1999 party list ballots.
14. The LDPR has won a grand total of six district races combined in the four Russian elections dating back to 1993. Five of those six were won in 1993.
15. Michael McFaul, "The Dangers of 'Managed Democracy,'" RFE/RL, Russian Politics Weekly (December 12, 2003), available at www.rferl.org/reports/ rpw/2003/12/49-121203.asp.
16. Compare 2003 to its level of vote support in the two previous elections, 1995 (22.3 percent, ninety-nine party-list seats) and 1999 (24.3 percent, sixty-seven party-list seats).
17. Roughly a quarter of its party list was made up of successful businessmen. In fact, five millionaires are ranked among the top eighteen names on its party lists. See Larisa Sayenko, "Russian Communist Party Not So Red Ahead of Polls," Reuters (November 27, 2003), via Johnson's Russia List No. 7440, available at www.cdi.org/russia/johnson; Julius Strauss, "Oligarchs Take a Left Turn on the Road to Duma," Electronic Telegraph (November 22, 2003), via JRL #7432; and Kim Murphy, "A Thin Red Line in Russian Politics," Los Angeles Times (November 27,2003), via JRL# 7446.
18. Roughly a quarter of its party list was made up of successful businessmen. In fact, five millionaires are ranked among the top eighteen names on its party lists. See Larisa Sayenko, "Russian Communist Party Not So Red Ahead of Polls," Reuters (November 27, 2003), via Johnson's Russia List No. 7440, available at www.cdi.org/russia/johnson; Julius Strauss, "Oligarchs Take a Left Turn on the Road to Duma," Electronic Telegraph (November 22, 2003), via JRL #7432; and Kim Murphy, "A Thin Red Line in Russian Politics," Los Angeles Times (November 27,2003), via JRL# 7446.
19. Roughly a quarter of its party list was made up of successful businessmen. In fact, five millionaires are ranked among the top eighteen names on its party lists. See Larisa Sayenko, "Russian Communist Party Not So Red Ahead of Polls," Reuters (November 27, 2003), via Johnson's Russia List No. 7440, available at www.cdi.org/russia/johnson; Julius Strauss, "Oligarchs Take a Left Turn on the Road to Duma," Electronic Telegraph (November 22, 2003), via JRL #7432; and Kim Murphy, "A Thin Red Line in Russian Politics," Los Angeles Times (November 27,2003), via JRL# 7446.
20. See Boris Kagarlitsky, "KPRF in Pre-Election Crisis," Moscow Times (November 27, 2003), via JRL #7439.]
21. See the comments of Aleksandr Veshniakov, chair of the Russian Central Election Commission, in Rossiiskaia gazeta (December 18, 2003), 20. Quoted in Marina Shakina, "The Future of Right-Wing Forces in Russia," RIA Novosti (December 18, 2003), via JRL #7474.
22. See the comments of Aleksandr Veshniakov, chair of the Russian Central Election Commission, in Rossiiskaia gazeta (December 18, 2003), 20. Quoted in Marina Shakina, "The Future of Right-Wing Forces in Russia," RIA Novosti (December 18, 2003), via JRL #7474.
23. Putin's desire to change the length of the presidential term of office from four years, and perhaps to eliminate the two-term limit, has been the source of speculation for some time.
24. Reuters (January 9, 2004).
25. "Russian Ruling Party to Control All Parliamentary Committees," Interfax (January 6, 2003), via JRL #8004.
26. Lewis E. Lehrman, "The Case for Putin," Weekly Standard (December 22, 2003), via JRL #7481.
27. These data come from Olga Kryshtanovskaya and Stephen White, "Putin's Militocracy," Post-Soviet Affairs 19, no. 4 (October/November 2003): 289-306. See also Adrian Karatnycky, "Putin's October Revolution," National Review (December 8, 2003).
28. These data come from Olga Kryshtanovskaya and Stephen White, "Putin's Militocracy," Post-Soviet Affairs 19, no. 4 (October/November 2003): 289-306. See also Adrian Karatnycky, "Putin's October Revolution," National Review (December 8, 2003).
29. Nikolai Petrov, "Monolithic New Duma Is Just an Illusion," Moscow Times (January 14, 2004), via JRL #8014.
30. Notwithstanding the OSCE stance on this aspect of the election process, there were many complaints by representatives of the Communist Party, Yabloko, and others about ballot stuffing and incorrect counts. Formal complaints were filed with the Central Election Commission. See Boris Kagarlitsky, "Tricks of Vote-Fixing Trade," Moscow Times (December 18, 2003), via JRL #7474.
31. Stanislav Menshikov, "Funny Elections: Kremlin Uses 'Administrative Resources,'" Moscow Tribune (November 21,2003), via JRL #7429.
32. Dmitri Lityvinovich, "Russia: Election Roulette," Transitions Online (December 1, 2003), via JRL #7448. See also Vladimir Pribylovsky, "The Use and Abuse of 'Administrative Resources,'" Moscow Times (December 1,2003), via JRL #7445.
33. Dmitri Lityvinovich, "Russia: Election Roulette," Transitions Online (December 1, 2003), via JRL #7448. See also Vladimir Pribylovsky, "The Use and Abuse of 'Administrative Resources,'" Moscow Times (December 1,2003), via JRL #7445.
34. The two main national television networks are state-run.
35. For more on this concept, see Larry Diamond, "Thinking About Hybrid Regimes," Journal of Democracy 13, no. 2 (2002): 21-35.
36. Ekho Moskvy (December 21, 2003), via JRL #7481.
37. Peter Rutland, "The Sorry State of Russian Democracy," RFE/RL Russian Election Special (December 15, 2003).