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#2 - JRL 2006-184 - JRL Home
Regnum.ru
August 15, 2006
Only Communists and United Russia will get into the State Duma-2007 without forming blocs
http://regnum.ru/english/688854.html

The process of bloc formation is “one more project by the presidential administration to avoid a situation when there will be only Communists and United Russia in the State Duma 2007,” senior researcher of the Sociology Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Prudnik says in a talk with REGNUM.

Under this project, numerous small political parties who have almost no chance to overcome the 7% barrier will be merged into 2-3 “really strong blocs.” “Otherwise, we may witness quite an absurd situation: only the Communist Party and United Russia will get into the parliament, and we will get no multi-party legislative system, as a result.”

“In this light, the possible alliance of the Russian Party of Pensioners with the bloc of Rodina and the Russian Party of Life (Partiya Zhizni) looks quite natural. In such a case, the State Duma will consist of a governmental party, the hard-line Communists and a multi-party left-wing bloc. This bloc will overcome the 7% barrier and will fully cover the whole electoral sector of the Liberal Democratic Party, who will manage to get into the parliament only if supported by the presidential structures,” says Prudnik.

If a big left-wing bloc is formed, “there will be one more intrigue”: how to cover the Right-Liberal electorate: “Even altogether, the Union of Right-Wing Forces, Yabloko and other right-wing parties will hardly poll even 3% of votes. So, they may well be involved in another project – to create a multi-party right-wing bloc, who will be able to overcome the 7% barrier,” says Prudnik.

As REGNUM reported earlier, on July 25, the Speaker of the Council of Federation, the leader of the Russian Party of Life Sergey Mironov and the leader of the Rodina part Alexander Babakov announced that their parties will consolidate during the Oct 2006 regional elections. A number of working groups will be set up shortly to consider the details of the consolidation.

On August 14, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with the leader of the Russian Party of Pensioners Igor Zotov. During the meeting Putin mentioned “the new pre-electoral party configuration of the left-wing bloc” – the possible consolidation with the bloc of Rodina and the Russian Party of Life, reports Izvestia.