| Since Russian President Vladimir Putin came
to power over two years ago, he
has done much to carry out his promise of strengthening centralized
power.
The pro-Kremlin Unified Russia party is now proposing to further
consolidate
the country's political forces by changing parliamentary election
rules. It
wants to raise the minimum barrier from 5 to 7 percent for blocs
of
political parties to make it into the Duma. The centrists say
that would
help create a system of two or three main parties necessary for
an efficient
legislative process. But a chorus of criticism -- not least from
those
parties that would be excluded under the new barrier -- says Unified
Russia
wants to waylay the democratic process for its own purposes.
Moscow, 18 October 2002 (RFE/RL) -- Things are good for the Unified
Russia
party. The pro-Kremlin alliance of four centrist groups controls
around 240
of the Duma's 450 seats, allowing it to dominate parliament and
ram through
many of the government's bills.
The party now wants to make things even better. It proposes to
cut down on
the number of small parties it says only slow things down by criticizing
the
government instead of helping craft legislation.
Members of the centrist group think Russia needs no more than
two or three
parties to work at maximum efficiency. To that end, they propose
changing
the country's electoral law to make it more difficult for small
parties to
be elected to the Duma.
"Experience has shown parties breed like cockroaches,"
Oleg Morozov, head of
the Russia's Regions Duma faction, said in remarks reported by
"Izvestiya"
newspaper. Russia's Regions is a member of Unified Russia.
Critics, however, say the measure is actually aimed at muzzling
dissent.
Sergei Ivanenko, first deputy head of the liberal Yabloko party
-- which
squeaked into the Duma with 5.93 percent in elections in 1999
-- says the
move is "90 percent" directed at showing its usefulness
to the Kremlin:
"This is a political move, a public relations action directed
at
demonstrating Unified Russia's significance to our political system."
Unified Russia's proposals conform to President Vladimir Putin's
stated aim
of strengthening centralized authority. Since coming to office,
the
president has raised the hurdles that organizations need to clear
to become
political parties and participate in elections.
Putin, who says he wants to ensure parties have broad national
support, has
moved to limit regional power bases by cutting back the authority
of the
country's governors and representatives in the Federation Council
upper
house of parliament.
Now, Unified Russia's likely proposal -- expected next week --
would make it
even more difficult for small parties with narrow support bases.
It
recommends raising the barrier from 5 percent to 7 percent for
landing seats
in the Duma for blocs of parties running together in parliamentary
elections.
Unified Russia started by recently floating a proposal to raise
the barrier
to 12.5 percent for all parties, a position observers say was
meant to set a
bargaining platform. Only Unified Russia and the Communist Party
would
likely be able to pass that level.
The Kremlin's reaction came from its administration deputy chief,
Vladislav
Surkov, who said "Unified Russia's radical proposals are
simply
unacceptable."
Surkov, however, indicated that raising the barrier to 7 percent
was not
only acceptable, but would actually help strengthen political
parties in the
Duma. But he added the measure should only be passed ahead of
elections in
2007.
Central Elections Commission chief Aleksandr Veshnyakov has also
said 7
percent might be an acceptable level.
Unified Russia says it now plans to submit a bill proposing the
7 percent
barrier for consideration in the Duma late next week.
There is a chance it may take effect before Duma elections in
December 2003,
a possibility that irks critics protesting what they say is one
party's
attempt to change the rules to suit itself.
Most countries like Russia with systems of proportional representation
set
the barrier for entry to parliament at around 5 percent. Turkey's
limit is
the highest at 10 percent.
Unified Russia members cite the two-party system in the United
States as a
goal. But political analysts point out that the United States
is
qualitatively different because it has a majority electoral system
instead
of proportional representation -- from which the population votes
for
parties that draw up hierarchical lists of representatives. In
Russia, half
the Duma's deputies are elected from lists; the other half are
elected from
single-seat districts.
Boris Makarenko, a political analyst at Moscow's Center for Political
Technologies, says Russia's political system is in fact unsuited
to a
two-party system: "The proportional-representation system
never in the world
produced two-party parliaments or two-party political systems.
Proportional
representation is about taking into account minority votes. If
you want a
two-party system, you have to introduce a first-past-the-post
majoritarian
system, like in most Anglo-Saxon countries or their former colonies,
such as
India."
Unified Russia's proposal is still being discussed in committee,
and the
bill the party says it will submit to the Duma next week will
likely not
concern individual parties, but electoral blocs of parties running
together.
Ivanenko says that further watering-down makes the proposals
senseless: "Not
one of the political parties represented in the Duma is planning
to run in
the next elections in any kind of bloc. That's why the topic is
an academic
one and will have no practical meaning, at least in these elections."
While Yabloko denounces any such measure, members of the Duma's
other main
liberal party, the free-market Union of Rightist Forces, or SPS,
has
cautiously backed the proposal. Some say the party may be motivated
by a
desire to force a union with the social-democratic Yabloko.
The Communists, who have the most number of Duma seats of any
party, have
largely remained indifferent, saying a higher barrier would actually
create
further difficulties for the Kremlin by focusing opposition around
themselves and paring down what is now a relative cacophony of
criticism.
This is not Unified Russia's first such initiative. The party
has also
pushed for a new law that would require a minimum turnout in regional
elections or else have the president appoint governors and other
officials.
Yurii Korgunyuk, director of Moscow's Indem political research
group, says
that Unified Russia is trying to alter the political ground rules
for its
own advantage by forcing voters for SPS, Yabloko, and other small
parties to
cast their ballots for Unified Russia instead: "Where there
are two-party
systems, people often don't vote for parties closest to their
views because
they're afraid their candidate won't collect enough percentage
and the votes
will be wasted, and therefore they vote for another party. That's
pretty
much the same psychological expectation here."
Makarenko agrees, saying Unified Russia's proposals reflect trouble
within
the party: "[Unified Russia] has problems in its party-building.
It's
obviously going badly. Under the Russian political tradition,
if something
goes badly for you, change the rules of the game if you can. Make
things
difficult for your opponents."
Makarenko says the most obvious victims of the proposal would
be parties
with ratings just above 5 percent. Those include liberals Yabloko
and SPS as
well as two parties behind the bill: the ultranationalist Liberal
Democratic
Party and the People's Deputy group, a member of Unified Russia.
Each percentage point raised is a real threat to those parties,
representing
1 million voters counting the total number of voters, or around
600,000
considering the average voter turnout.
Russia is the world's most populous country with a system of
proportional
representation.
The Justice Ministry has registered around 30 parties since Putin's
new law
went into effect last year.
Like Yabloko member Ivanenko, Makarenko says Unified Russia's
proposal is a
tool to exercise influence among smaller parties, but adds that
he doubts
the measure will be passed in consideration this time around.
See also:
State Duma elections
2003
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