The second part of a two post series regarding Russia's political parties. This post will focus more on the minor parties represented in the Duma an in regional parliaments along with parties not in the Duma and those which have been banned as well.
The Minor Parties in the Duma
Motherland (Родина)
2016 Duma Election Result: 1.5% (1 Seat)
Leader: Alexei Zhuraviyov
A relatively minor political party in federal politics, only having one deputy within the Duma. It was founded in August 2003 by several nationalist politicians such as Sergey Baburin, Dmitry Rogozin, Valentin Varennikov and others. Ideologically, the party in the modern day espouses nationalist sentiment and was a coalition of multiple nationalist groups within the country. In fact, it was banned from 2005-2006 in several regions on account of some of its advertisements being inflammatory and capable of inciting racial hatred.
It has been stated by some that the party acts a satellite organization for the ruling "United Russia" party, and is in fact a member of the "All-Russia People's Front" coalition within the Duma lending credence to this description. In the aftermath of the 2003 Duma Elections, Anna Politkovskaya described it as a party designed by Kremlin spin doctors to siphon away voters from the National Bolsheviks, garnering a total of 37 seats in the aftermath of the election of 2003. The Guardian had also proposed that the party was created in order to leech votes from the Communist Party, Russia's second largest political party.
The Rodina Party is another chauvinistic organization, led by Dmitry Rogozin and created by the Kremlin’s spin doctors specifically for this election. - Anna Politkovskaya (A Russian Diary: A Journalist's Final Account of Life, Corruption, and Death in Putin's Russia)
By 2006, the controversies regarding the party, such as the controversial advertisement involving Caucasians in the Moscow Duma and events such as several of its members proposing a bill banning Jewish organizations in the country (in conjunction with some members of the Communist Party), had led the party to lose steam politically and led to the party merging with a few others to form the "Just Russia" party by the end of 2006. In 2011 however, the party was resurrected, but remains a far shadow of its original strength from 2003-2006 and remains a minor and relatively inconsequential party in the Duma. For the 2018 presidential elections, the party opted to support the candidacy of Vladimir Putin instead of running their own candidate.
Civic Platform (Гражданская Платформа)
2016 Duma Election Result: 0.2% (1 Seat)
Leader: Rifat Shaykhutdinov
Founded by one of Russia's richest oligarchs, Mikhail Prokhorov, as a way to enter the political world, after he left the "Party of Growth", another economically liberal centre-right party, after being elected as the party's chairman. His accusations that the party was nothing more than a puppet party by the Kremlin, under the thumb of Kremlin advisor Vladislav Surkov, had led him to create a new political force in 2012.
Ideologically, the party is described to be a liberal conservative party espousing economically liberal values. Its membership over the years has been quite small, with only a few local mayors and political figures publicly associating themselves with the party, such as Tolyatti mayor Evgeny Urlashov, who was arrested by the Investigative Committee of Russia in 2013 for supposed corruption charges. Regionally however, the party maintains a presence with few seats among several of Russia's regional parliaments and city councils.
However, its position as an opposition party has been criticized recently by some, including Prokhorov himself, whom has left the party already in 2015 after several members of the party participated in pro-Kremlin "Anti-Maidan" demonstrations. On December 2017, the party and its current leader had supported Vladimir Putin's bid for re-election for the 2018 Presidential Elections.
Political Parties and Movements outside of the Duma
Russian United Democratic Party "Yabloko" (Яблоко)
2016 Duma Election Result: 2%
Leader: Nikolay Rybakov
Founded in 1993 by Grigory Yavlinsky, Yabloko has been Russia's largest and oldest party of note which has advocated for liberal reforms in the country. Ideologically, the party describes itself as a socially liberal party, similar to other parties within Western Europe. It has advocated for better relations with the United States, increased civil liberties, a "social market economy", progressive social reforms such as support for LGBT rights in the country and Russia's entry into the European Community. In the aftermath of the annexation of Crimea in 2014, the party also advocated for a legitimate referendum with the consent of Ukraine, and under the auspices of international organizations.
The party was heavily active during the 1990's, it was quite committed to democratic reform and privatization, even though it was opposed to the policies of then President Yeltsin, voting for his impeachment over the war in Chechnya and the events of 1993. It had a sizeable presence in the State Duma with its best performance in 1995 garnering 6.89% of the vote and 45 seats. Ever since then however, the party has steadily lost popularity in Russia's political landscape.
Despite its lack of representation in federal Russian politics after losing all its parliamentary seats in 2007, it does still have a presence in several city councils, most notably in Moscow where it has four deputies in the Moscow City Duma.
In the 2018 presidential elections, the party ran Grigory Yavlinsky as their candidate for the presidency and obtained approximately 1.05% of the vote. The party's name is also the Russian word for an apple.
Communists of Russia (Коммунисты России)
2016 Duma Election Result: 2.3%
First Secretary: Maxim Suraykin
Founded in 2009 as a public non commercial organization by a myriad of smaller regional communist organizations, becoming a fully fledged political party in 2012.
Ideologically, the party espouses Marxist-Leninist values along with claiming to be an anti-revisionist party. It criticizes the CPRF under the leadership of Gennady Zyuganov, and claims that the CPRF cannot regain power with their current leadership. A few members of the Politburo of the Communists of Russia were former CPRF members as well.
In the last election for the presidency, it advocated for mass nationalizations of industry and the reintroduction of the Death Penalty in the country. The party has also had previous proposals which have garnered media attention such as threatening mass protests if Leonardo Di Caprio acts as Vladimir Lenin in a possible movie and the banning of "selfie-sticks" during Victory Day. Recently, the party has proposed to erect monuments for doctors who have died from the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. Some have criticized the party's existence as a way for the Kremlin to divide the vote of Russia's left and as another "pet project" of the Kremlin. Federally, the party has no representation but does have a presence in some of Russia's regional parliaments.
In the 2018 presidential elections, the party nominated Maxim Suraykin as their candidate and obtained around 0.7% of the popular vote.
Party of Growth (Партия Роста)
2016 Duma Election Result: 1.2%
Leader: Boris Titov
The party was originally founded in 2009 as a merger of three liberal parties, the Union of Right Forces, Civilian Power, and the Democratic Party of Russia and was originally named "Right Cause". All three parties were considered economically liberal parties, which have been losing popular support in the past decade. Boris Nemtsov, a founding member of the Union of Right Forces, had opposed the merger on the grounds that it would prove ineffective and offer no opposition. On the other hand, another founding member and architect of Russia's privatization efforts in the 1990's, Anatoly Chubais, gave his full support to the merger. In 2016, the party was renamed into its current name "Party of Growth".
Ideologically, the party supports increased free-market reforms within the country and has been described as a conservative liberal party and the party of "business". The party's creation was welcomed by the administration of Dmitry Medvedev. In 2014, the party also supported the annexation of Crimea.
The lack of true political opposition to the authorities had led to the party being accused of being too close with the Kremlin, a claim which seemed to have increased in legitimacy when Mikhail Prokohorov left the party in 2011 for the same reasons. However, the party and its leadership has had some occasions when it found itself in opposition to the President and the Kremlin. Despite this, the party remains supportive of Vladimir Putin lending credence that it was another member of the "Systemic Opposition" in the country.
The party currently has no representation in the State Duma, but does have a few seats in Russia's regional parliaments. In the 2018 presidential elections, the party nominated Boris Titov for the presidency and received around 0.8% of the popular vote.
Russia of the Future (Россия Будущего)
2013 Moscow Mayoral Election Result: 27.2%
Chairman: Alexei Navalny
The party was originally founded in 2012 by Alexei Navalny as the "People's Alliance", then the "Party of Progress" in 2014 to "Russia of the Future" in 2018. Despite these name changes, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation has repeatedly refused to officially register the party.
Russia of the Future is heavily associated with its founder and Chairman, Alexei Navalny, who has had his name popularized in the West, due to the amount of media coverage that media publications in the West have of him and his actions. Another popular member of the party, Lyubov Sobol, has been seen as another face of the party, especially with her connections to the "Anti-Corruption Fund" founded by Navalny and her efforts to run in the recent Moscow Duma Elections.
Ideologically, the party describes itself to be a liberal party in opposition to the corruption of the ruling authorities, claiming themselves to be a centrist party. However, due to the party's association with Navalny, the party does seem to follow the ideological populism of its founder, who has had multiple positions (some of which contradict each other) over his political career.
Most of Navalny’s economic proposals are seriously concerning and evocative of left-wing populist slogans. - Andrey Movchan (Carnegie Institute)
The party has not participated in any federal elections and was denied participation in the recent 2019 Moscow Duma Elections, with its most recent performance in the 2013 Mayoral Election for Moscow.
Left Front (Левый Фронт)
Founded in 2008, Left Front is a collection of multiple socialist and other far left organizations in the country. Instead of a single leader, the organization ascribes to a model of collective leadership, with no single spokesperson.
It has been very active and vocal in its opposition towards Vladimir Putin and United Russia.
Ideologically, the front subscribes to a far left communist program. The organization aims to build a "just socialist society". Other policies within its program include the implementation of an e-voting system, separation of church and state, mass state housing construction
Contrary to other leftist forces within the country such as the CPRF and others, the organization maintains an anti-war stance, especially with the war in the Donbass and Southeast Ukraine.
It has also advocated for a boycott and rejection of the upcoming constitutional referendums on July 1. The front is quite active in demonstrations against the ruling authorities across the country, being found in anti-government demonstrations with other dissident organizations such as Russia of the Future.
Unlike other socialist and communist entities in the country, it does not have any presence in electoral politics and instead prefers to be involved in direct action, which would contribute and make up for its lack of presence in Russia's political scene. It aims to use unions, social movements and labour collectives as its cornerstones of support politically.
National Bolsheviks and the Other Russia (Другая Россия)
The party was founded originally in 1993 by three men, Eduard Limonov, Alexander Dugin and Yegor Letov and was not legally recognized as a political party. In fact, Eduard Limonov along with a few other National Bolsheviks was arrested in 2001 on charges of terrorism and planning an insurgency in Kazakhstan (According to the Russian government).
The party was part of the National Salvation Front in the 1990's, a force combining nationalist Russians and the remnants of the post-Soviet Communist order in opposition to Boris Yeltsin and his privatization policies. It continued its role as an opposition party under the rule of President Putin, accusing the state and the bureaucracy of being completely corrupt.
The ideological orientation of the National Bolsheviks has been described as syncretic, combining elements of leftism with National Socialism. The party, due to the influence of Alexander Dugin, has also strong elements of "Eurasianism". However, this element had been watered down with Dugin's exit from the party in 1998. According to the program that the party had in 1994, the party's goal was to create an empire from Gibraltar to Vladivostok under the basis of Russian civilization. The party has however been criticized by Russian neo-nazis on the basis that it takes a more civic approach to nationalism, claiming that anyone who speaks Russian to be a Russian.
The party has also been open to cooperation with other anti-Putinist political movements and parties, from both the left and the right of Russia's political landscape cooperating in "The Other Russia Coalition" from 2006-2008. Some have described that the party straddles the extreme left of the political spectrum due to their economic positions and their self described "anti-capitalist" nature.
It was legalized in 2005 but the party was banned as an extremist organization in 2007, ending the party's legal activities within the country. Similarly to "Left Front", the party engaged in "direct action" activities, usually non-violent in nature. In 2010, the party was resurrected in a different form with a different name under "The Other Russia" and has therefore since became more embedded within the far-left of Russian politics, despite its membership having been involved in anti-Caucasian riots and activities such as the Manezhnaya Square Riots in 2010. Under their new program, they claim to support the imposition of a progressive income tax (Russia's tax policy consists of a flat tax system), the nationalization of strategic industries and the move towards autarky in the country.
The movement has also been involved with the War in the Donbass, with members of the movement participating in the fighting under the guise of "Interbrigades". Ever since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Limonov and the movement have toned down their criticism of the Putin, supporting the annexation. The death of Eduard Limonov in early 2020 has put a blow to the movement and it remains to be seen how relevant the party will continue to be in the future, with their relevance and popularity decreasing ever since the 1990's.
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