I should also mention that, for some reason, the popularity of the Communists doesn't seem to interfere with the popularity of Putin, even though their policies are opposed. Komsomolskaya Pravda, I think it was, put it well when it said recently "In the eyes of most Russians, our president is Putin, and our party is the Communist Party."
The other parties mentioned below are:
Unity: Pro-Kremlin center party basically formed to get Putin's dictates passed. Fatherland: Headed by the Mayor of Moscow (and big-time mafiosi) Yury Luzhkov, centrist and pro-Kremlin but with Social Democratic rhetoric. Union of Right Forces: Neoliberal right-wing party which contains some of the most-despised people in Russia. Social darwinist fuckwads. Yabloko: Basically Social Democratic. LDPR: Ultra-right whackos. They were created originally by Yeltsin to split the opposition. Zhirinovsky is damn entertaining however (and is also damn smart -- I think at bottom he's just an actor).
BTW one reason Gorbachev loves Putin almost as much as he loathes Yeltsin is that the political structure Putin is building -- a big centrist pro-government party in the Duma that basically just ratifies Kremlin decisions alongside controllable leftist and rightist factions that basically serve to provide criticism of government policy -- is remarkably similar to what Gorby was trying to form. Which was leftist and rightest wings with advisory functions under the ultimate control of the CP. Boy does he like Putin. Must be great to be back in the limelight after being kept off national TV and being so unpopular for so long and blamed for everything bad that happens.
Chris Doss The Russia Journal ------------------
Communists still ahead of pro-presidential parties in poll
MOSCOW. Nov 29 (Interfax) - If parliamentary elections were held in Russia next Sunday, Gennady Zyuganov's Communist Party would win 32% of the votes, more than any other single party.
It is true that support for the communists is tending to dwindle: their share was as large as 39% in April, and 35% in September.
On the other hand, the electorate of other parties is stable, as suggested by a poll of 1,600 Russians held by the All-Russian Public Opinion Center on
November 23-28, and polls held earlier in the year.
The report on the poll only represents the responses of those who would go to the polling stations and are certain of their choice.
Sergei Shoigu's Unity and Yuri Luzhkov's Fatherland parties would have 28% between them; Boris Nemtsov's Union of Right Forces, 8%; Grigory Yavlinsky's
Yabloko and Vladimir Zhirinovsky's LDPR, 7% each.
Five percent would vote against all parties.
*******
Chris Doss The Russia Journal
- -What is KPRF?s stance towards Putin?s government? Is it true that the KPRF now - -is more a nationalist (with some fascist tendencies) party instead of a socialist - -one???