Russia

The International Republican Institute’s (IRI) programming in Russia supports the emergence of democratic values across a broad spectrum of Russian society. Grouped under five categories – political party building, local government/parliamentary training, women's leadership, youth leadership and civil society development – IRI's programs seek out opportunities to foster the leadership, institutions and popular support needed to ensure that Russia achieves the democracy it was promised with the fall of communism more than 15 years ago.

Political Party Building

IRI's party-building efforts help political parties build membership, strengthen regional chapters throughout the country and help party candidates conduct effective election campaigns. IRI also builds cooperation and coalitions between political parties and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) by facilitating the exchange of innovative communication strategies to help parties to get their message out and interact with supporters and other constituents.

Local Government/Local Parliamentary Program

IRI believes that identifying and supporting liberal leaders at the local and regional levels can help lay the groundwork for Russia’s next generation of democratic leadership. IRI has therefore created a new network of politicians, NGO activists and elected officials who are interested in the democratic development of municipal governance. Through this network, as well as IRI-sponsored conferences and roundtables, local elected officials, NGOs and party members learn how to contribute to increased public participation in local governance and meaningful interaction between citizens and local and regional deputies.

Women's Program

IRI has worked for more than 10 years to encourage women's participation in Russia's political process. The program focuses on increasing women's political participation by training women candidates, building bridges with women in legislative bodies at the federal, local and regional level, strengthening women's NGO networks across the country, and raising women's status and membership levels in democratic political parties. Most recently, IRI has placed a special emphasis on including young women in these efforts.

Youth Programs

IRI is promoting a number of initiatives to involve Russia's young people in all aspects of the democratic process - from voting, to running for office, to starting an NGO. IRI has worked with political parties in conducting events throughout Russia for youth leaders to help regional youth organizations become involved in politics and public affairs, build networks for inter-regional youth parliaments and identify future political leaders. Through conferences, roundtables, internships, and other efforts, IRI assists Russia’s young leaders to apply a high level of professionalism, activism and capacity to their own work.

Support of Civil Society

Over the course of more than a decade of work in the Russian Federation, IRI has developed contacts with a number of domestic NGOs that advocate for a myriad of democratic causes and initiatives. In the past, IRI worked to promote the development and sustainability of different organizations through small targeted grants and other institutional support. While IRI has graduated the last of these organizations from direct support, it continues to work closely them on a variety of projects, including women's and youth leadership.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia's national political landscape has been ever-changing. Russia's first president, Boris Yeltsin, called for a new Russian constitution in 1993, a move which led to an attempted coup that failed. The new constitution, adopted with 58 percent of the national vote, gave the president the power to appoint a prime minister and cabinet and reformed the legislative branch, which now consists of an upper house, the Federation Council, and a lower house, the State Duma.

Following the surprise resignation of Boris Yeltsin on New Year's Eve 1999, Vladimir Putin became acting president. He was formally elected in 2000. Since his election, President Putin has enjoyed unprecedented popularity, with approval ratings consistently topping 70 percent. A new, pro-presidential party, United Russia, also emerged, riding the wave of Putin's appeal to become the party of power in the State Duma.

National parliamentary elections in December 2003 resulted in a sweeping victory for United Russia. The elections also led to a resurgence of nationalist parties like the Liberal Democratic Party and the Motherland Party, while the Communist Party continued to lose support.

On March 14, 2004, Putin was re-elected President, winning more than 70 percent of the vote. Since his re-election, Putin’s government has reigned in the media, amended legislation on political party registration, making it almost impossible for smaller or regionally-focused parties to legally exist, and abolished regional gubernatorial elections in favor of presidential appointments. The government has also passed legislation establishing stricter controls over Russia's NGO sector, making it more difficult for NGOs to register, conduct activities and receive funding from abroad. The Putin administration maintains that these reforms are necessary to ensure stability in the country, but many worry that Russia's "stabilization" will come at the cost of its democracy.

The December 2, 2007, State Duma election will be the first national elections since reforms of the parliamentary elections process were passed in 2005. These reforms prohibited the post-election formation of coalitions to meet the higher threshold of seven percent for gaining seats.

Several parties are expected to participate in the elections, including United Russia and the newly formed Fair Russia, a pro-Kremlin center-left coalition between Motherland, Party of Life and the Pensioner’s Party. Among other parties active in the pre-election period are the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, and the pro-democratic Union of Right Forces and Yabloko. Putin himself has been placed at the top of the United Russia candidate list for the upcoming elections, as they hope to capitalize on his immense popularity.

The current constitution mandates that President Putin must step down after his second term ends in March 2008. There is little doubt amongst observers both in Russia and abroad that his successor will be hand-picked and easily win the March 2008 election. At this time however, it remains uncertain who that successor might be. Among those running in opposition are former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov of the Peoples Democratic Union, Vladimir Zhirinovzky of the Liberal Democratic Party, Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party and at least four members of the Other Russia coalition, including former Chess Grand Master Garry Kasparov.

Political Overview

Chief of State: President Vladimir Putin

Type of Government: federation

Suffrage: universal, age 18

Elections Calendar

Program Overview

Focus of Program: political party building, development of nongovernmental organizations, parliamentary and local government training, women's political leadership, federalism

Funding Source: United States Agency for International Development and the National Endowment for Democracy