Federalism and Local Politics in Russia

Party and electoral reforms under PutinMunicipal elections 285In a highly complex serious of manoeuvres in the wake of the BeslanHostage Crisis of September 2004, Putin cynically pushed through a numberof key amendments to election and party legislation that has dealt a seriousblow to the development of grassroots democracy in Russia. A new versionof the 2001 Law ‘On Political Parties’ was ratified in December 2004 withfurther amendments in July 2005, 2 a new version of the 2002 Federal Law‘On Basic Guarantees of Electoral Rights and the Rights of Citizens of theRussian Federation to Participate in a Referendum’ was ratified on 21 July2005, 3 and further important amendments to key laws on election and partieswere introduced in 2006. 4 According to the Chair of the CentralElectoral Commission, Alexander Veshnyakov, the main aims of these revisionswere ‘to stimulate the development of political parties, strengthen theirrole and raise their responsibility in the electoral process’. 5 However, farfrom improving the opportunities for electoral participation, Putin’s electoraland party reforms have made it much more difficult for opposition parties,and particularly small regional-based parties, to contest elections, and to winseats at the regional and local levels. 6 The main provisions of Putin’s newlegislation on elections and parties are as follows:(a) According to the latest version of the Law ‘On Political Parties’, in orderto register for elections, parties (from 1 January 2006) had to have a totalof not less than 50,000 members (previously according to the original2001 law it was 10,000). Moreover they were required to have regionalbranches in over half of the federal subjects, each with a minimum of 500members (previously 100 members), and the number of members ofother regional branches had to number not less than 250 members (previously50). Moreover, only parties which have been registered for oneyear prior to an election can register for that election. 7(b) There was also a total ban on electoral blocs at all levels. Formerly, on 4June 2003, election blocs were restricted to a maximum of two or threepolitical parties, then in further amendments it was declared that afterthe December 2003 Duma elections they were to be banned altogether.Having earlier benefited from being able to form an electoral alliance,United Russia has now denied the same rights to other parties. 8(c) From July 2003 regional councils have been obliged to elect at least onehalf of their members by proportional representation in a party listsystem. Whilst this could be seen as a positive move which will encouragethe development of parties at the regional and local levels, viewedalongside the other changes discussed above, it is more likely to simplyincrease United Russia’s domination of regional legislatures. In 2005 theelectoral threshold was raised from 5 to 7 per cent, another factor thatwill make it more difficult for small parties to win seats, and independentswill no longer be able to contest regional elections. 9 According to