How many political parties are there in Russia now?

After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the original highly centralized and unbalanced social relations transformed into a new diversified social organizational structure. Various forces and movements have come together to counteract each other, forming a variety of new social relationships, making the Russian social structure in transition very fragile. At one time, there were thousands of political organizations in Russia, and various "movements", "associations", "fronts", "alliances" and political parties flourished everywhere. After Yeltsin ordered the shelling of the White House and the dissolution of parliament in 1993, Russia's political party activities, which were mainly street confrontations, shifted to parliamentary struggles, and political pluralism and multi-party system were rationalized in the form of the constitution. The constitution stipulates that "ideological diversity is recognized", "everyone enjoys freedom of association, and the freedom of activities of social groups is guaranteed" and "all social groups are equal before the law." In the subsequent Russian presidential and parliamentary elections, "parliamentary struggle" became the main means for political parties to compete for power, and Russian party politics has gradually got on the right track.

The ebb and flow of Russian party structure

In the process of social transformation, Russia has always had three major political forces: left, center and right, each of which has a large number of political parties. and organization. During Putin’s first term, although Russia’s political party structure of left, center and right coexisted, the balance of power between the parties has undergone major changes. The center parties have gradually grown, the left parties have been weakened, and the right parties have weakened. The strength of political parties has declined, and the main framework has always been the confrontation between the political party and the opposition Russian Communist Party.

The Communist Party of the Russian Federation is the largest left-wing opposition party in Russia. The Russian Communist Party was established in June 1991. Its activities were banned after the "8.19" incident. It was rebuilt and resumed its activities in February 1993. The Russian Communist Party represents the interests of the working people. After the drastic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, it became the largest and most influential Communist Party in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. The goal of the Russian Communist Party was to overthrow the existing social system, rebuild the Soviet-type people's power, and ultimately realize innovative socialism. The Russian Communist Party used slogans such as "patriotism" and "powerful country" to isolate the liberals who advocated Westernization and won the majority of Voter support. In the first Duma election in December 1993, it won 12.4% of the votes and became the second largest party. In the second Duma election in December 1995, it won 22.3% of the votes and became the largest party. In 1999, it became the largest party. In the three Duma elections, it won 24.2% of the votes and became the largest party group in the Duma. With the stabilization of Russia's political situation, the strengthening of presidential power and the reorganization of the State Duma, the support rate of Russian voters has declined. After the United Russia party was established in December 2001, the Russian Communist Party retreated to the second largest party in the Duma. In April 2002, the Russian Communist Party was deprived of the leadership positions of several committees it once held in the Duma. In the Fourth State Duma election held in December 2003, the vote share and Duma seats obtained by the Russian Communist Party fell almost to the level at the beginning of the reconstruction in 1993, with only 9% of the seats, becoming the Duma minority among them. At the same time, splits also occurred within the Russian Communist Party. After Seleznev was expelled from the Russian Communist Party, he established the Russian Renaissance Party based on the Russian Movement, and drew away some members of the Russian Communist Party with social democratic tendencies. In 2003, the Russian Communist Party had disagreements with its original ally, the economist Sergei Glazyev. Glazyev united some political parties to establish the "Motherland" campaign alliance and parted ways with the Russian Communist Party. The opposition within the party of Russian Communist Party leader Zyuganov openly defied the Party Central Committee and convened the so-called "Central Plenum" and the 10th Party Congress on their own. As a result, the Russian Communist Party was held in Moscow on July 1 this year. The two plenary sessions of the Central Committee and two congresses were held on the 3rd, and the leaders of two central committees and two parties-Zyuganov and Tikhonov were respectively produced. The Russian Communist Party fell into the tenth period of its establishment. A crisis unprecedented in many years.

United Russia is a centrist party that supports President Putin. Its predecessor was the "Solidarity" campaign alliance established on the eve of the Third Duma election in 1999. It succeeded in the election, receiving 23.32% of the votes, becoming the second largest party in the Duma. On February 27, 2000, the "Solidarity" alliance was reorganized into a socio-political movement. In May of the same year, it was reorganized into the "United Party". In July 2001, the party and the "Motherland" movement jointly formed the "United-Motherland" alliance. In the same year, it decided to absorb the "All-Russian" movement into the alliance. And on December 1, the All-Russian "Solidarity and Motherland" Party, also known as the United Russia Party, was formally established. Russian Minister of Emergency Situations Shoigu, Tatar President Shaimiyev, and Moscow Mayor Luzhkov *** were also elected as chairman of the Supreme Council. The number of members of the party in the Duma exceeded that of the Russian Communist Party and became the largest party in the Duma. The centrist faction also accounts for more than half of all members, forming a stable majority, making it easier for Putin to govern. Since October 2002, Russian Interior Minister Gryzlov has served as Chairman of the Supreme Council. The party claims to be a supporter of the president and the executor of the president's policies, "whose purpose is to enable citizens of the Russian Federation to participate in socio-political life by forming and expressing their political will, participating in socio-political activities, elections and referendums, and expressing themselves in state organs and the interests of citizens of local self-government bodies”.

The party also claims to pursue the common values ??of "freedom, law, justice and harmony" to connect all members of the All-Russian "Unity and Motherland"-United Russia party.

Right-wing liberal parties are the right-wing forces in the Russian political structure, mainly including the "Yaboglu" alliance, the "Union of Right-wing Forces" and the Liberal Democratic Party led by Zhirinovsky. The "Yabolu" alliance was established in October 1993 and obtained 7.86%, 6.8% and 5.93% of the votes in the 1993, 1995 and 1999 Duma elections respectively. After being blocked from the parliament in the Fourth State Duma election last year, the party leader Yavlinsky resigned due to the fault. He was re-elected as the party leader on July 3 this year. The party represents the interests of the middle class and advocates reforms on the track of a market economy. The Right-wing Power Alliance is also a right-wing liberal party founded in August 1999 and led by Nemtsov, Chubais and others. In the third Duma elections, the alliance received 8.52% of the votes. On May 27, 2001, the "Right-wing Power" alliance held a congress and decided to dissolve the various factions within the alliance and establish a new "Right-wing Power Alliance Party" referred to as the "Right-wing Party", with Nemtsov as the leader of the party. Although the new "right-wing party" has been reorganized, due to its internal disunity, factional struggles are extremely fierce. The contradiction between the Nemtsov-Kiriyenko faction and the Gaidar faction is particularly acute. He was defeated in the State Duma election last year and has been in decline ever since. The Liberal Democratic Party led by Zhirinovsky is also a right-wing nationalist party founded on December 13, 1989. The party advocates Russian national interests above all else and is committed to restoring Russia's former superpower status. Due to its strong nationalist overtones, it was supported by some voters and won 22.19% of the votes in the first Duma election. It once became the largest party in the State Duma. In the subsequent two Duma elections, it won 22.19% of the votes. Received 11.18% and 5.98% of the votes. However, in recent years, the party's power has declined sharply and its influence has been shrinking.

With the evolution of various contradictions and differentiation during the social transformation period, the balance between the three political forces of the left, center, and right in Russia has undergone fundamental changes. The result is that the power of the center has increased, the power of the left and the right has weakened, and the Russian political parties have Initially, there is a pattern in which multiple parties coexist, one party dominates the political arena, and the opposition parties continue to divide and combine.