Russian Political System
Life in Russia was never nice, and political life is not an exception. The Russian Federation started in what appeared to be a peaceful, bloodless resolution of the Cold War (only three men perished during the 1991 coup attempt), but two years later, the Russian Constitution of 1993 was written in blood after President Yeltsin ordered tanks to shoot live shells at the unruly parliament. Since then, Russia managed to turn even democracy into a dystopia.
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"Whatever party we try to build, we always get CPSU!"
—Victor Chernomyrdin, Russian ex-Prime Minister famous for his malapropisms
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Russian Federation is a federation of 83 subjects (89 before the mergers of the late 2000s). It is a semi-presidential democratic republic, even though the suspicious distribution of power between President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin in 2008-2012 made some pundits to believe it's actually semi-presidential.
Federal Government
The central government that resides in Moscow, consists of the executive branch (the Cabinet of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister) and the legislative branch, a bicameral parliament called the Federal Assembly, consisting of the State Duma (the lower house with 450 Deputies, what most people think of when they hear of the Russian parliament) and the Council of the Federation (the upper house, of 166 Senators). The President belongs to neither executive nor legislative branch. There's also the judicial branch, consisting of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court in St.Petersburg (the latter's function is interpreting the Constitution and judging its ambiguous points).
The president is the one who holds most reins of power, unless Vladimir Putin is the PM.
Regional Governments
All subjects have their own governments, led by a mayor in the federal city of Moscow, heads of administration in ethnic republics and governors everywhere else. Yes, the head of St.Petersburg, also a federal city, is a governor, not a mayor. All heads of subjects are appointed by the federal government with the consent of the regional parliaments after the infamous reform by Putin (if the newest promises of Medvedev hold true, the regional heads will soon be elected again). The parliaments of federal subjects are unicameral.
Electoral System
Russia uses Proportional Representation (PR) for its parliaments on all levels. Blocs are forbidden, though, and coalitions do not exist.
- Five, Six and Seven percent thresholds: a party must get at least 7% votes to get some seats in the State Duma. If the party gets 6%, it receives a consolation prize of two seats, or one seat if 5%.
- Three percent threshold: a party that gets 3-4% votes, does not receive any seats in the parliament but gets its money spent on political ads back.
Political Parties
- United Russia - the juggernaught conservative political party that backs the President and PM. Can be best described as a party of state bureaucrats and anyone who wants to get close to them. It's a political machine that hogs votes using aggressive propaganda, underhanded manipulations and administrative resources (that's ordering people how to vote, for those not in the know). The Duma of 2007 was utterly dominated by this party; the Duma of 2011 appears to be less United Russia-dominated, and even that year's electoral results of 2011 (45%) resulted in riots and rallies protesting against United Russia's underhanded tactics.
- Communist Party of Russian Federation - supposedly communist, but in fact social-conservative — that is, both social-democratic and socially conservative. Unlike the communists of USSR, these guys support the church, do not mind businessmen, believe in traditional social mores, do not want to restore USSR, and there are even some monarchists among them! Led by the uncharismatic, unattractive and unambitious Gennady Zyuganov, an eternal presidential candidate. Often accused of closely toeing The Government's line and being opposition In Name Only.
- Liberal-Democratic Party of Russia is neither liberal nor democratic. It's, in fact, a pseudo-nationalist (mainly because Zhirinovsky is all bark and no bite) party centered about its leader, the famous political clown Vladimir Zhirinovsky, another eternal presidential candidate. This party owes its strange name to the fact it was created in the late 1980s, when "liberal" and "democratic" were buzzwords of instant success. The target of the same accusations as CPRF.
- A Just Russia - a social-democratic party, somewhat of a more liberal and modern rival to CPRF, but less popular. A relatively recent union of three rather different more-or-less leftist parties, some of them decidedly odd (like an ex-Senate speaker Sergey Mironov's Party of Life that tried to tout a really weird pseudo-environmentalist slogans and selected a vykhukhol, also known as a Russian Desman, a bizarre semi-aquatic insect-eater animal, as their mascot), which nevertheless managed to carve themselves a solid social-democratic reputation and win the hearts of some leftist voters who aren't sufficiently radical for the Left Front and don't want to be associated with CPRF's geezers. Also accused of being the Kremlin's creation. Members of this party are called Esers, same as members of the historical Socialist Revoltionary Party; this party officially isn't any kind of successor to that one, but it seems that currently it becomes more left-wing and may some day live up to the name and become a Spiritual Successor to the historical Esers.
Dwarf and Outlawed Parties
Parties too unpopular to win any seats in the State Duma are usually called "dwarf parties". Some dwarf parties are outlawed because of their extremist views.
- Right Cause - an old-school liberal party. In their goals, mind you, their methods, which include slander, boycotting and an undeniably classist approach, are surprisingly Bolshevik. Liberalism is somewhat The Scrappy of ideologies in Russia because of the liberals' infamous reforms of 1990s which spawned a lot of Corrupt Corporate Executives and a hell of starving poor people, which is why they consistently fail to win enough votes to get into parliament. Their constant internal squabbles don't help either. As is the liberals' reputation as unabashed Western lickspitties, which alienates a lot of the more patriotic voters. It is sometimes said that if Russian Liberals existed in the US, they'd be tarred and feathered in seconds for their disloyalty to the nation.
- Apple Party (Yabloko) - another liberal party, offering more socialized liberalism akin to what the Democratic party of America believes in. Popular among the educated, cosmopolitan middle class of the big cities, but these represent a too small percentage of the population for the party to have any real influence, and it constantly teeters on the representation barrier, sometimes making it, and sometimes not.
- Patriots of Russia - a social-democratic party that popped out of nowhere before the 2011 elections, got almost no votes and then sunk back into oblivion. Called a Kremlin's political tool by many analysts.
- Another Russia - an outlawed party formed from a strange alliance of old-school liberals and Commie Nazis (no, really), united by a common desire to overthrow the dictate of United Russia.
- Left Front - looks like the Bolsheviks are back! Actual communists who want to restore Soviet Russia. Also an outlawed party.
Recently, a law passed the Federal Asembly which allows easier procedures for party creation. Expecting more unusual dwarf parties, keep watching this article!
Vladimir Putin is the house that always wins. No matter who wins and who loses in this casino, this guy will stay on top.