"Russia will soon be a one party state"

[VetLegion]

I only skimmed the article, but I doubt anyone can defend the increase from 5% to 7% in the amount of votes needed to enter parliament. The ban on forming coalitions is also simply undemocratic.

[VetLegion]

Originally posted by LordShiva
In my country teh list of political parties reads like a telephone directory.

[Wezil]

Rather than worry about the 5-7% increase shouldn't the bigger concern be the inability of other parties to generate more than this amount of support in the first place? With all due respect to our Russian poster earlier, I have a hard time believing this is b/c no other party is any good. The looney party in our country can still generate 15% of the vote...

[MOBIUS]

Originally posted by Cort Haus
In my country the two main parties seem like two managerial factions of the same party. It's rare to be able to put a cigarette paper between them, and they keep accusing each other of nicking each other's policies.

Then perhaps you should vote for the other one...

[Cort Haus]

I usually do, FWIW.

[MOBIUS]

Then there's hope for you yet...

[The Vagabond]

Originally posted by VetLegion
I only skimmed the article, but I doubt anyone can defend the increase from 5% to 7% in the amount of votes needed to enter parliament. The ban on forming coalitions is also simply undemocratic.

This is done in order to stimulate formation of big long-lasting parties. It's not right when "one-day" parties are formed just for an election and then wane as if they never existed. I am not quite happy about what is going on in Russian politics right now, but this measure seems to be justified to me. Besides, coalitions are not banned in the parliament itself. They are banned only in the sense of being counted as a single party for the election purposes.

[The Vagabond]

IMHO for the time being there are only two real parties in Russia: the communists and the Union of Right Forces (SPS). All other political parties are just a joke.

[The Vagabond]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
But supporters of the Kremlin dismiss all these allegations as the complaints of losers.

"There is a liberal electorate in Russia," says pro-Kremlin analyst Vyacheslav Nikonov, "but only for one liberal project.

"During all public opinion polls (for the liberals) in previous years the figures have been quite stable at between eight and ten per cent. They need to unite and that is what they are not doing."


* Increasing the minimum percentage of votes required for a party to enter parliament from 5% to 7% and banning parties from forming coalitions in order to break through the higher threshold

Again, what Nikonov means by uniting is just formation of one big party by the liberals, in contrast to just forming pre-electoral coalitions.

[The Vagabond]

Originally posted by Wezil
Rather than worry about the 5-7% increase shouldn't the bigger concern be the inability of other parties to generate more than this amount of support in the first place? With all due respect to our Russian poster earlier, I have a hard time believing this is b/c no other party is any good. The looney party in our country can still generate 15% of the vote...

Yes, there is one such party in Russia: the communists are expected to generate about 15%.

[The Vagabond]

It is extremely hard for a truly independent geopolitical player outside of the western sphere of influence to become truly democratic. The thing is that the internal political fight, which is a necessary attribute of a democratic process, offers too great an opportunity for geopolitical rivals to influence the situation in their favor.

[SlowwHand]

Re: "Russia will soon be a one party state"

The worst thing about it is that it's a Bring Your Own Bottle party. Cheap bastards.
Wez and I have discussed this before.

[Vesayen]

I have been saying for years and years that democracy was doomed in russia, this is not a shocker.

[SlowwHand]

For years and years, huh?

[MarkG]

meanwhile, the US is being run by two vastly different parties...