Tag Archives: united_russia

A mirror, a rehearsal, a vote

The 2021 Duma election started exactly a week ago and ended with a result that most people expected and feared: a renewed United Russia supermajority, propped up by fraud, intimidation and a toolbox of tricks. The election will no doubt … Continue reading

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The 225 meanings of legitimacy

Amidst an increasingly harsh crackdown on dissent, a crisis of legitimacy haunts the Duma elections that will take place in seven weeks. But what does this actually mean? I argue that Russia in 2021 is not Belarus in 2020, but … Continue reading

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Primary rehearsal

The governing United Russia party held its “primaries” (irritatingly “translated” to Russian as праймериз) in the last week of May. The votes were totaled and a party congress will, on June 19, approve a list of candidates for the September … Continue reading

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Three tales from the regions

In Ernest Hemingway’s novel, “The Sun Also Rises”, a character, Mike is asked how he went bankrupt. He answers: “Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.” This is also how political change often happens. Small-scale, incremental changes that go unnoticed prepare the ground for something … Continue reading

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Elections ahead

This year Russia will hold nation-wide legislative elections and the talk of the town, for months, have been whether the Kremlin’s expectation is for United Russia, which presently holds 343 of 450 seats – a comfortable constitutional supermajority – in … Continue reading

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NY Dispatches: Regional constitutional courts

This week the State Duma voted to approve the liquidation of regional constitutional courts. According to the law, which implements this year’s constitutional reform, regional constitutional courts will be abolished by 2023. They may be replaced by “constitutional councils” functioning … Continue reading

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In search of a Kalmyk relief

The second wave of the pandemic is hitting Russia’s regions harder than the first and most regions are ill-equipped to deal with it. In some, political squabbles impede effective policymaking; these conflicts also highlight why the Kremlin’s model of governing … Continue reading

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