Loss Of The Liberal Parties example essay topic

Putin's Way After the fall of communism and the advent of democracy, the Soviet constitution was amended to delete the provision that the CPSU was the 'leading and guiding' force in the political system. As a result, many political groups began to operate more openly in Russia. The constitution of 1993 guarantees further Russians' right to a multiparty system. Despite that "the Duma that results [today] is a democrat's nightmare: three parties whose only ideologies are an almost slavish loyalty to President Vladimir Putin and varying degrees of nationalism, plus one made of the dregs of seven decades of totalitarian rule". Putin's Way examines why the "middle class did not vote as they were meant to". In 1991, the majority of Russian people had the opportunity to cast a ballot that would truly be counted.

The ballot allowed for the people to choose between Yabloko, the social-democrats, versus the Union of Right Forces (SPS), "the self-appointed guardians of Russian liberalism". But, in the 2003 lower house elections, neither Yabloko nor the SPS received the 5% needed to get their party-list candidates into the Duma, the lower house. However, the "Liberal-Democrats", an ultra-nationalist party led by Vladimir Zhirinovsky doubled their vote over the last election in 1999. In second place, Motherland, "a Kremlin-backed party", led by ex-communist Sergei Glazyev, and modern nationalist, Dmitry Rogozhin, won 12.7% of the vote. United Russia, the People's Party, came in first place, winning 19 single-mandate seats and occupying 222 seats, nearly half of the seats in the Duma. The result of the 2003 elections: "three parties whose only ideologies are an almost slavish loyalty to President Vladimir Putin and varying degrees of nationalism".

Having failed to amass votes, for the next few years, the two liberal parties will have nearly negligible influence. Putin's Way provides a number of reasons for the unfortunate results of the election and for why the people voted the way they did. First, national / state run TV stations ignored the law that requires equal media coverage for all candidates. In secluded areas, local bosses forced government workers forced to campaign, threatening their jobs. Secondly, Yabloko and the SPS failed to raise topics such as healthy care and education, "unpopular with most Russians, but something that the newly affluent might agree with". Thirdly, when democracy hit town, a vast separation was created between the haves and the have-nots.

But, "the fact that economic growth under Mr. Putin has come with more centralized control and less press freedom only prove to many that even more authority is needed". Fourthly, the party system is a mere twelve years old, thus still young and possessing many imperfections. The 5% Duma barrier was created as a result of elections such as the 1995 one, in which 43 parties ran. The objective of the barrier is to "weed out the just-for-fun contenders".

Finally, the loss of the liberal parties is greatly attributed to the scandal involving the arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the boss of Yukos, Russia's largest oil company. Not only did Yukos fund SPS and Yabloko, but it had several its staff among their parliamentary candidates. Naturally, the Russian citizens did not want to cast their ballot for the parties funded by a criminal. A few smaller, yet crucial, details also account for the unfortunate loss of SPS and the Liberal Democrats. For instance, in Russian politics, ideology only plays a small role. What matters are the people behind the party name.

Thus, it should not be surprising that the Kremlin is composed of Putin's muppet's, for "the chief face of the pro-Kremlin parties is Mr. Putin, whose approval ratings still hover between 70%-80%". The Soviet also contributes to the loss of the liberal democrats. In this system, Russians can only vote where they were born. As a result, many Yabloko and SPS supporters are disenfranchised for they are the people "most likely to be living and renting in a different city". In Putin's political chess game, economy is the king. Putin is "now ready to push reforms that will spread wealth into the rest of the economy".

He will do this by closing tax loopholes that allowed the natural-resource companies to profit and lightening the tax burden on the average citizen; enforcing the banking system and promote small business; emphasizing the educational system while reforming the bureaucracy. There are a number of options that the liberal democrats must assume to ameliorate their situation and gain more supporters for the following election in the hopes of acquiring the needed 5%. Having pin-pointed many of the problems, it is now their duty to fill in the gaps. For instance, they must start by establishing a better platform to re-attract their past supporters, such as identifying healthcare and education as key priorities on their agenda. Furthermore, they must urge their supporters to not be intimidated by the Soviet and make every effort to get to their designated voting locations. In the past couple of years, Russia has plummeted on the Freedom House ranking.

In Freedom House's latest poll, Russia was officially labeled "not free". Not surprising, considering the fact that the Putin, the Russian president, is a former professional KGB member and the parties amassing the majority of the seats are said to be Putin's puppets. Putin is walking on a fine line of policies separating the old Russia from new Russia. It is his duty to see to it that the minority parties' voices are heard. If under Putin, Russia fails to uphold the "majority rights, minority rule" principle that democracies pride, Russia will be on the fast track to the ways of the old regime.