MARINA, a middle-aged Muscovite with dark hair and piercing eyes, is unhappy—about rising prices, rampant corruption and even Russia’s confrontation with the West. But she is not ready for a change of course. “People are unsatisfied, but we’re afraid of change,” she declares. “Gorbachev had some nice ideas, but see how that turned out? I don’t want Russia to be destroyed.” So it comes as no surprise that Marina, and most of her compatriots, voted for more of the same when they took to the polls on September 18th for elections to the Duma, the national parliament.
The results were never in question. The ruling United Russia party of President Vladimir Putin secured more than three-quarters of the Duma’s 450 seats. These are apportioned under a hybrid system: half are chosen proportionally, according to the votes won by each party list; and the other half are contested by individual candidates. Mr Putin said the strong endorsement for United Russia was “the reaction of our citizens to foreign pressure on Russia” and a vote in favour of stability. Three obedient “systemic opposition” parties will remain in the Duma. But two liberal anti-Kremlin parties,...Continue reading
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