Federalism and Local Politics in Russia

The problem of effective representation 173they are apprehensive of becoming associated with Communist ideas.Therefore they aspire not to capture the regional party branch as a whole butto gain some party list seats in exchange for their financial support. Besides,the regional branch of the CPRF has partially fallen under the control of agroup of political technologists which is closely associated with the regionaladministration. In December 2006 the CPRF won 8.6 per cent of the votesand three seats.One of the peculiarities of regional politics in Perm is the prominent roleof liberally orientated parties, such as the Union of Right Forces (SPS) andYabloko. Even in 2003, when these parties failed to secure victory in theState Duma elections, in Perm Oblast their performance was not so poor:they won 8.6 per cent and 5.50 per cent of the votes respectively. The regionalbranch of SPS was created in 1999 mostly on the basis of the regionalorganization of ‘Democratic Choice of Russia’ (former Prime Minister YegorGaydar’s party), which was quite influential in the region. It was headed byState Duma deputy Victor Pokhmelkin, the only Perm politician who haswon all Duma elections (since 1993). Pokhmelkin wielded considerableinfluence in the Igumnov administration. His scandalous alliance with BorisBerezovsky (creating the political movement ‘Liberal Russia’), and hiswalkout from SPS in 2002, sparked an acute crisis in its regional branches.There were a number of influential political figures, young and successfulentrepreneurs in SPS’s ranks, who managed to overcome the crisis. In 2005,however, the party entered another period of turmoil, as Nikita Belych waselected federal party leader. His statements in opposition to the policies ofPresident Putin split the regional branches, and some members led by thenew leader Alexey Chernov, who were more inclined to cooperate withPutin, left the party.As far as the Perm branch of Yabloko is concerned, it was a lack offinancial resources that appeared to have made it offer the leadership toValery Chuprakov, a successful industrialist and a former member of UnitedRussia. Churpakov might have been cherishing a hope to gain more politicalweight, as he was planning to run for the post of mayor of Perm. After hisdefeat he left Yabloko and joined United Russia once again. One specificfeature of the regional Yabloko is that it has brought together several charismatic– far from wealthy but nonetheless popular – personalities, who areresisting the particularist aspirations of Churpakov and other entrepreneurs.In the December 2006 elections for the Regional Assembly, SPS andYabloko agreed to find ways to work together in order to overcome the 7 percent electoral threshold. In particular, Yabloko agreed not to propose its ownparty list. The two parties also agreed not to field candidates against each otherin the single-member constituencies. As a result, 16.35 per cent of the electoratevoted for SPS and the party received six seats in the regional legislature.During 2004-6, when there was a weakening of the powers of the regionaladministration and a reconfiguration of the regional elite, a number of newand influential actors entered the Perm political arena. Viewed as ‘outsiders’