Russians want multiparty democracy: poll

A new poll released Thursday shows that most Russians want a multi-party democracy. The results come amid growing discontent with the ruling United Russia party in the lead-up to parliamentary elections this December. The poll also found that most Russians consider the elections an “imitation” of a struggle for power.

The Levada Center poll found that 47 percent of Russians think Russia needs two or three parties and 12 percent think it needs many parties. Twenty-six percent of those polled thought Russia needs one strong ruling party (which it has) – that’s down from 34 percent in 2001, when United Russia was founded to back Vladimir Putin, but up from 18 percent last year.

The poll found that 54 percent of Russians think the upcoming vote will be an imitation of a “real struggle among parties for power and a place in the Duma.” Fifty percent thought the elections would be “dirty,” rather than clean and legal. The bulk of those polled – 55 percent – said they weren’t interested in the elections, while 40 percent said they were.

The government is implementing a series of populist measures – some of which have backfired – in a bid to get support for United Russia back up. Here’s an essay that takes one anecdotal experience to explain how the mood in Moscow has shifted. It’s very on the mark.