The Pretense of Democracy in the Russian Parliamentary Elections

The results of the Russian parliamentary elections completed yesterday were determined ahead of time in favor of the ruling party by tyrant Vladimir Putin, a former Soviet intelligence officer, who does not tolerate serious opposition or criticism. True opposition parties are not permitted to compete effectively in Russian parliamentary elections. Only parties that are pro-Putin or that are not overly critical are allowed to compete in federal legislative or other elections, as a pretense of democratic representative government. The two major parties that are tolerated are the Communists and the far-right nationalists, which serve to make the ruling party seem reasonable by contrast. A new pro-Putin center-right party was formed by the Kremlin to take away votes from the center-right opposition. Furthermore, as with any critics of Putin, opposition parties and leaders are subject to persecution, while basic freedoms are not tolerated. One of the main opposition leaders, Alexei Navalny, who is imprisoned after having been poisoned and whose party was prevented from fielding candidates, urged Russians to vote for one of the parties other than the ruling party as a tactic. The tactic has been effective at times in regional elections.