Party solitaire

On March 28, the Federation Council, following the State Duma, will consider a new law "On political parties", and from the beginning of April it will come into force if Dmitry Medvedev does not delay signing it. So far, this is the only bill proposed by the president as part of the political reform, the meaning and essence of which was not obliterated by the Duma United Russia, as is now happening with the law on the election of governors, in which the party in power, it seems, will still be able to insert a clause on a mandatory presidential filter for candidates .

As for the amendments made to the law "On parties", they are more likely to play into the hands of the opposition. Firstly, the law will come into force not from January 1, 2013, as was originally supposed, but from the day of its publication. Secondly, it is forbidden to create parties with names similar to existing ones, which guarantees that spoiler parties will not be created. Finally, the Ministry of Justice will no longer be able to refuse registration without the right to appeal, with vague wording like “you have the wrong charter.” But all the refusals of recent years were connected precisely with this: for example, nationalists from Great Russia were denied registration with reference to the charter, although they completely copied it from the charter of United Russia. Now the Ministry of Justice will have to explain step by step what is wrong in the documents, the parties will have the opportunity to correct these shortcomings as soon as possible and still register.

At the same time, amendments that implied the creation of some “veteran filters” did not pass: some deputies proposed introducing restrictions into the law, according to which parties would be allowed to participate in federal elections only if there were at least ten factions in regional parliaments, and these parliaments, respectively, could to be elected only with experience of successful performance in municipal elections.

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The result of this process will be the emergence of 10-15 strong political organizations in the country. And this is in any case better than the seven current parties, most of which are controlled from the Old Square

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Part of the parliamentary opposition (KPRF and LDPR) insisted, however, on the need to raise the minimum number barrier to 5 thousand. They say that now 150 new dwarf parties will appear on the political horizon, which will divide the entire electoral field and eventually play into the hands of the Kremlin. My colleagues and I do not agree with this argument: in the 1990s, dozens of parties also existed in Russia, but the voter found his politician in the ballot, a leader he trusted. It is important that a new stage of political competition is beginning in Russia, and only in the last three months a number of stars have already ignited, which so far are known, perhaps, only in Moscow, St. Petersburg and large cities, but in a year and a half or two they will gain federal fame. I am talking now about Alexei Navalny, and about Sergei Udaltsov, and about Ilya Yashin. People saw that in the country there is not only cabinet politics, but also street politics. As soon as street protest leaders have the opportunity to become leaders of registered parties, many political veterans risk being forgotten, and politics will reach a completely new qualitative level.

It does not matter whether 50 parties will be registered as a result or 150. In addition to the license of the Ministry of Justice, parties will still need charismatic leaders, media and organizational resources, and regional branches. People will not reach out to gray one-day parties and they will not be believed, so, as I hope, the result of this process will be the emergence of 10-15 strong political organizations in the country. And in any case, this is better than the seven current parties, most of which are controlled from the Old Square.

Now we need to achieve amendments to the law "On Elections", which still prohibits the formation of electoral blocs. The same left and right may have many disagreements that do not allow them to unite in one party, but why can't they act as a single list in the elections?

This is the next task to be solved by the parliamentary opposition.