Translated material
Right extreme
The President has become the only defender of democracy in the political field
“Today, after the elections, we live in a new Russia,” Vladislav Surkov, deputy head of the presidential administration and concurrently the main Kremlin “party builder,” said yesterday. Mr. Surkov meant that the previous political structure with “left” and “right” having suffered a crushing defeat is becoming a thing of the past. But the point is also that the Kremlin now has virtually unlimited power in parliament: an absolute majority in the Duma makes it possible to engage in vigorous legislative activity, including changes to the Constitution. How exactly Vladimir Putin will take advantage of this opportunity is difficult to say. But one change, in any case, is inevitable. In the near future, the merger of the Perm region and the Komi-Permyak Autonomous Okrug into a single region will begin, and the parliament will have to reduce the number of federal subjects. And changes to the Constitution, even reasonable ones, may well receive the most unexpected continuation - you just have to start.Moreover, part of the Putin administration - the so-called "siloviki" - will certainly interpret the election results as a carte blanche given by the population to tighten the screws and intensify the fight against big capital. Voices can already be heard from their camp, claiming that they are the authors of the victory (although this is far from the case) and it is they who will reap its fruits. Now, in a discussion with Kremlin and government liberals, they can use a virtually indestructible argument - that’s what the people want. The people support the hunt for oligarchs, the people want a redistribution of property, the people want a tougher attitude towards the West and pressure on the CIS countries. In general, the people want an empire. Not a liberal one, according to Chubais, but simply an empire.
But have people's preferences changed so dramatically over the past four years?
If you calmly look at the voting results, it turns out that it’s not very good. The united and indivisible party in power received the same number of votes as Unity and Fatherland-All Russia received four years ago, from the merger of which it was formed.
The protest electorate remained virtually the same. In total, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Liberal Democratic Party and Rodina received approximately the same number of votes as in the previous elections - the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the Liberal Democratic Party. Here, however, the process of self-identification of voters most likely began. If earlier both national patriots and orthodox communists unanimously voted for the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, now, as a result of violent anti-communist agitation, national patriots preferred “Motherland”. This turned out to be just over 9%, which generally coincides with the estimates of sociologists. This idea was indirectly confirmed by the chief PR officer of Rodina, Marat Gelman, who said in a conversation with a correspondent of the Vremya Novostey newspaper that “those voters who in other conditions would have voted for the communists or a candidate “against all” gave their votes to the bloc.”
Another thing is that, in an effort to weaken the communists as much as possible, the Kremlin brought into the Duma representatives of the interests of precisely this segment of the population. As Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said yesterday, “the Rodina bloc has such nationalist tendencies that it cannot but cause concern.” The Duma newcomer is also causing concern in the Kremlin itself. The ambitions of Sergei Glazyev, who hardly hides his intention to become president of Russia in 2008, raise doubts about the controllability of the bloc. By the way, Mr. Glazyev has already expressed his readiness to cooperate in the Duma with the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.
However, judging by statements from a number of sources close to the Kremlin, work with the bloc has already begun, and it is possible that soon after the March presidential elections the Rodina faction will cease to exist. Most of the deputies are planned to join United Russia in one form or another, while a smaller part will have to return to the communists they left.
And last but not least, the result of the elections. Right-wing liberal parties did not enter parliament. If you follow the logic outlined above, then there are not much fewer supporters of right-wing liberal ideas in the country. However, now they are not represented in the Duma. It is characteristic that yesterday representatives of almost all the winning parties, starting from Yuri Luzhkov and Lyubov Sliska and ending with representatives of Rodina, expressed regret about the defeat of Yabloko and the Union of Right Forces. And indeed, the most right-wing parliamentary party (as Vladimir Zhirinovsky was quick to announce) in Russia turned out to be the LDPR.
As a result, the only real promoters of right-wing liberal ideas in the structure of federal power in Russia are Russian President Vladimir Putin and part of his administration, together with the current government of the country. And on this issue they have no allies in parliament. Of course, United Russia, at least in the near future, will approve all laws presented by the president, including the most liberal ones. However, a voting machine, by definition, cannot be an ally, much less an adviser. And the president seems to understand this very well. And is looking for advisers elsewhere. Yesterday he found it necessary to formulate this as a “signal” to representatives of the losing parties. “All their ideas, their personnel capabilities,” the president said, “which will be provided to the country’s leadership, government, society and which are aimed at positive solutions to the issues facing the country, will be in demand.” Of course, it would be much more effective to use the liberals’ personnel and ideological capabilities in parliament. Moreover, even being in the usual minority, the right could serve as a counterweight to national patriots.
Now the liberal part of the presidential administration will have to fight on two fronts - with ultra-statists in the Kremlin and with national patriots in the Duma. And another question is how far it will be possible to tame the appetites of this parliamentary wing.
By the way, last week in Durov’s corner a bear actually killed a trainer. The bear's name was Dodon. He was quiet and obedient...