European Forum

President Medvedev proposes unprecedented reforms

On December 23rd, on the eve of another planned massive opposition protest, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev proposed major political reforms that, if passed, would mean a great deal to (aspiring) political parties.

During a record brief annual state-of-the-nation speech President Medvedev announced the beginning of major reforms. The first instalment of the reforms – already submitted to the Duma – includes two proposals: a radical simplification of political party registration, and the abolishment of the requirement to petition for election participation.

The proposals
The party registration simplification includes a lowering of the number of required members from 45.000 to 500; the party will still be required to have regional representation in no less than half the regions of the Russian Federation, but there are no requirements as to the number of members in each region, and there can be as few as two (currently, the law requires no less than 450 members per regional chapter). In addition a law will be abolished, that revokes a party’s registration if the membership goes below the required number. Although the amendments would only come into force on 1 January 2013, parties wishing to register throughout 2012 will be treated following the new rules.

The abolishment of petitioning for elections means that parties will not be required anymore to gather signatures to participate in elections. According to current law, all parties not represented in the Duma had to gather 2 million signatures to be able to run in elections. According to proposed amendments, the petition requirement will only stand for groups not yet registered as political parties, and will be lowered to 100.000 signatures. In presidential elections signature-gathering will still be required, but the amounts have been lowered to 100.000 for parties, and 300.000 for individuals.

The full reform package is based on six points, also including: return to direct elections of governors, changing the principals of Duma formation and an increase of political party representation in election commissions.

Reactions
The general reaction of the mass media to the reform proposal was that it is connected to the mass protests on the streets, in an attempt to appease the protesters who demand fair elections and more freedom. The media do judge the reforms as quite revolutionary, but the President only touched upon them in a superficial way, and upon closer inspection they seem difficult to follow.

Some experts are saying that instead of real political competition, the authorities are only allowing a ‘staged competition’, which they compare to the Yeltsin period. MP from Just Russia Alexey Mitrofanov notes that this ‘Yeltsin scheme’, in which ‘instead of an open control there was a hidden control over the oppositional Duma and governors’ is not remembered without reason. The authorities are trying to ‘keep the power,’ and that means that ‘all should get a little more freedom,’ but all responsibility for any problems that arise will be put on the opposition.

At the same time sociological surveys suggest that parties, including the opposition parties, are risking to lose the trust of those ‘newly angry citizens’ who have gone to the streets. According to head of the Center of Complex Social Studies of the Sociology Institute, Vladimir Petuhov, as opposed to the authorites those people are ‘not bothered with single-mandate constituencies’, and in contrast with the opposition they are ‘not bothered with new Duma elections and political competition.’ They mainly went to the streets, ‘especially the young ones, because they are worried about their personal welfare and protest against the limiting of prospects.’ The opposition is risking losing them if it ‘argues with the authorities about majoritarian constituencies etc., instead of finding out what in reality is happening with the ‘newly angry ones.’ The authorities will not win trust if, as was the case with Medvedev’s address, their messages are directed towards ‘the political class, and not to those who went to the streets.’

Leaders of the protest movement largely welcomed the reforms, but many remain sceptical. According to co-leader of the unregistered Party of Popular Freedom (PARNAS) Vladimir Ryzhkov, ‘Medvedev has taken a step forward, but he has made proposals that don't solve the main problem - the problem of the legitimacy of the authorities […] These proposals are not enough.’

Sources: Gazeta.ru, Newsru.com, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty