Kremlin, Moscow
By Venkatesh Raghavan
As the three-day polling event commenced today in Russia to elect deputies to the State Duma, On the eve of three day, the elections hold, as President Vladimir Putin acknowledged in his election-eve address to the nation, a great deal will depend in future on the constructive and functional interaction between the legislative and executive branches of power in Russia.
The elections are being held on September 17, 18 and 19, 2021. Under the renewed Constitution of Russia, the State Duma enjoys the crucial power of approving the candidacies of the Prime Minister, his deputies and federal ministers. Putin emphasised the need for a “strong and respected parliament”, so that the deputies of the new State Duma act in the interests of Russia and work for the people.
Obviously, as the Russian voters turn out to express their mandate in numbers, the ruling United Russia party is savoring anxious moments, watching how far they can succeed in consolidating the current level of over two-thirds majority in the Duma, the Russian parliament that will prove crucial for retaining power to amend the constitution as per their wish. Though United Russia is faced with mounting pressures owing to their popularity sinking to an all time low, the poll verdict is expected to return them to power with a lesser number of seats in the Duma, mainly owing to the lack of any cohesive opposition force.
United Russia is well past its halcyon days of popular support way back in 2016, with the annexation of Crimea working in favor of its landslide mandate of 336 seats out of 450 in the Russian parliament. The reasons for its popularity chart getting scaled down includes, a downturn in the Russian economy, the falling value of the Russian ruble, sharp decrease in purchasing power of the average Russian and corruption in high places that seeks a major reshuffle in the upper echelons of Putin’s ministry.
To be fair to the current government, United Russia has acted swiftly in both shuffling out and arresting corrupt politicians. This move which was intended to promote United Russia’s image as that of a responsive government has however, served little to boost the Party’s popularity. Former Russian President, Dmirty Medvedev suffered a setback with the Party scaling down his position and subsequently removing him from the election list, as part of their clean up act on the corruption front. The government action against corruption however, has been stymied by its move to imprison popular dissident leader Alexei Navalny in early January this year and branding him and his group of political followers as an extremist organization. Alexei was rapidly gaining popularity among the Russian masses for spearheading an anti-corruption drive. The government has also banned his party from participating in the electoral process.
In short, while United Russia does make an attempt to portray itself as a people’s government, it belies its words by indulging in prosecution and harassment of the new generation Russian opposition parties, as it only serves to maintain status quo in Russia’s political fortunes. Besides, when one studies what ails the country, or popular opinion, it’s essential to understand what gets thrown up on the face of following the money trail? Though the current government has announced its intentions to augment pension schemes as well as invest in Russia’s economic growth, Putin has to walk the proverbial tight rope to rescue the country from the crutches of total economic collapse.
Firstly, soon after American companies succeeded in lowering global oil prices by using the hydraulic fracturing technology, Russia became the worst sufferer as it was the world’s major exporter of oil and oil prices were forced to turn globally competitive. The dwindling government revenues are compounded with an unfavorable demographic trend that is precipitated by rapid reduction in population. Acute shortage of manpower besides lack of skilled technicians is posing a major challenge to Russia’s economic fortunes on the global front. Under such circumstances, Putin’s populist move to woo pensioners might cause a severe strain on government revenues.
In short, United Russia that is faced with an uphill task to propel the country out of financial straits is likely to continue staying in power albeit with a reduced majority. The big question mark for the Party cadres as of now is will they be able to retain their power to resort to Constitutional amendments that seek to curb the powers of an already splintered opposition front.
