Posted on 08/22/2006 11:55:38 AM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
The deputy head of the Russian administration, Vladislav Surkov -- who serves as a designated mouthpiece for the policies of President Vladimir Putin -- has begun advocating the creation of a heftier opposition to the ruling United Russia party. Talk surfaced Thursday of a suggested merger between the nationalist-socialist Rodina (Motherland) Party, the Party of Life, and possibly the Party of Pensioners into a new opposition party in the Russian Duma.
...The two-party system is only being created for the benefit of Putin's (or his successor's) administration. The new party would serve the function of a loyal opposition to United Russia, whose sole purpose is to support Putin's agenda. The opposition would be weak and malleable, and present only a modicum of choice to Russian voters. However, the Kremlin does plan for the opposition to have an ideology. This would in itself provide an alternative to United Russia, which lacks any ideology other than implementing Putin's will. If public sentiment ever sways toward the need to have an ideologically based party, a ready-made alternative will be available that will still keep the legislative process under the Kremlin's control.
...The powerful presidency dictates policy with the support of its "pocket" party (although Putin is not a member of United Russia). Some influence on policy, however, is exerted by the various factions that inhabit the Kremlin -- the nationalist security-oriented siloviki, the St. Petersburg crew, the "state oligarchs" whose businesses support Russian policy, and the faction of Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov and businessman Mikhail Fridman. Putin is connected in some way to each of these, and controls each closely; his former Federal Security Services colleagues make up the siloviki, and his St. Petersburg origins allow him to bring associates from those connections into the administration.
(Excerpt) Read more at stratfor.com ...
So in other words they are trying to recreate the US two party system? /slight sarcasm.
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