Regions which participated in the elections are marked in red
Russians across the country went to the polls on Sunday one week ago. The “highlight” of the free regional elections held on October 8, 2006 was the fact that the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s faction) failed to make any gains, taking only a few seats across the regions; Russian liberals, on the other hand, did not score enough votes to win even a single seat in any region.
President Putin’s party Edinaya Rossiya (United Russia) didn’t score as high as expected either, but still took first place. The surprise of the election was the success of the Party of Pensioners, whose entire platform is paying pensions to veterans and the elderly and giving each Russian citizen royalties from Russia’s vast natural resources. The election results show three very strong trends in Russian society: 1) a plurality of the people trust the ruling party; 2) Russians have lost any belief in the so-called liberal parties; 3) there is a growing awareness that Russia can improve social services now that real wealth is being created and the oligarchs are no longer running the country.
Please view the extended post for election results in detail from representative Russian regions and brief descriptions of the parties. No further comment from us is needed, as the numbers speak for themselves.
Here are our brief unofficial descriptions of the parties which gained seats in the elections:
(scroll down for the results; results as of 10/10/06)
Edinaya Rossiya (United Russia) – advocates for a just society and strong economy to restore Russia.
KPRF (Communists) – same old goals: fight capitalism, and bring back the Soviet Union.
Partiya Pensionerov (Party of Pensioners) - paying pensions to veterans and the elderly and giving each Russian citizen royalties from Russia’s vast natural resources.
LDPR – the party of Zhirinovsky has a very vague general statement as its main motto. The real idea is to appeal to 5 -7% of the population which likes to hear locker-room jokes and watch fist fights in the Duma.
Partiya Zhizni (Party of Life) – strongly emphasizes improving education in the regions at both the secondary and collegiate levels.
Rodina (Motherland)– Russia for Russians and without oligarchs (read previous Russia Blog posts). The Party of Life, the Party of Pensioners and Rodina are in the process of merging into one political party.
Svoboda i Narodovlastie (Freedom and Rule of the People) – against the oligarchs (officially); common men should rule the nation.
Svobodnaya Rossiya (Free Russia) – advocates for stable democratic society with a strong economy.
Comments
hi all,
great post,
cool.... will read it all carefully..
thanks yuri
ps I was wondering how the voting thing worked in russia....
Posted by: JHH_ | October 16, 2006 9:18 PM
Interesting results. I fully support the platform of the Party of Pensioners. With the great resources and wealth of their country, and all the new affluence, it is a crime that the older generation is impoverished. Their labor and resilience brought up the generation who currently enjoys prosperity and an optimistic future.
Additionally, the life savings of most pensioners evaporated overnight with the instability of recent years. There must be some restitution for them.
And finally, the families of military conscripts who are murdered or maimed need to have a just value placed on the life that was destroyed. I would support this being included in the concept of pensioners relief.
Posted by: Tanya | October 17, 2006 12:26 PM
hi all, hi Tanya,
the old age pension is good out here....well reasonable.. to basic needs
other pensions also cover women and children, if their husband has died, and other various help, whether by car accident or when in the army, and even help for the mother and children if the husband is in jail
and if the husband is not able to work...etc.
its a good basic living system for people in need
and the pensions cover, war veterans etc. too....
JHH
Posted by: JHH_ | October 18, 2006 5:03 AM
hi all,
GREAT post and info...
how come the VOTERS did not all vote...
was it held in WINTER ?
instead of summer....
or such
great explanations of the parties.... though .....
thanks...
JHH
Posted by: JHH_ | October 24, 2006 12:15 AM