Government, Political Parties

Since the late 1980s Russia has changed from a single-party, totalitarian state led by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) to a chaotic, factious, multiparty democracy. The CPSU has been replaced by hundreds of political groups, factions, movements, and parties that span a wide political spectrum, from monarchists to communists. The parties range in size from a few members to more than half a million members. Some of the smaller political groups have lasted only a brief time. Alliances between groups are generally unstable, and coalitions shift frequently. Individual personalities influence political formations to a large degree, and the political agendas of many parties are vague and poorly documented.

Russia’s political parties can be divided into four general categories: communist parties; Russian nationalist parties; reformist, or promarket democratic parties; and centrist and special interest parties. In early 1996 the major groups were the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, led by Gennady Zyuganov, which emerged from the legislative elections of December 1995 with the largest representation in parliament; the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, led by Vladimir Zhirinovsky; more moderate Russian nationalists; and the Agrarian Party, which is dominated by supporters of the collective farms system inherited from the Soviet era. The leading parties of the reformist category were Yabloko and Russia’s Democratic Choice. Parties with centrist or special-interest platforms included Our Home Is Russia (also considered a reformist party), led by former prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin; the Women of Russia Party; the Social Democratic Peoples’ Party; and the New Regional Policy.

In the legislative elections that were held in December 1999, the Communists again emerged as the largest party, winning roughly one-quarter of the votes. The centrist Unity bloc, which supported the prime minister, Vladimir Putin, finished second. Another centrist group, Fatherland-All Russia, which represented an alliance of former prime minister Yevgeny Primakov and Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov, came in third. Zhirinovsky’s ultranationalists lost heavily, only just gaining sufficient votes to have seats in the Duma at all. Overall, the result of the election was to strengthen the center in Russian politics at the expense of both the far right and the far left.