Russian Political Parties
Russia is a democracy with a multi-partisan structure. The Russian assembly, the state Duma, is made up of four political parties jointly. The leading political party in Russia is United Russia; Dmitry Medvedev heads it. Due to the amalgamation of many political parties, the party was established in April 2001. The largest opposition faction is the Socialist Party of the Russian Federation. The leader of this minority party is Gennady Zyuganov. Some of the other parties mentioned in the Duma are the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia led by Vladimir Zhirinovsky and A Just Russia headed by Sergey Mironov. The United Russia party is represented by 343 in the Duma Parliament, ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia 39 seats, Communist Party of the Russian Federation, 42 seats and the fake opposition party A Just Russia 23 seats.
Party System and Organization
The party system encourages party organization and management. A catchall party is a political party whose primary objective is to gain the support of the citizens through an emphasis on charismatic leadership, marketing, and pragmatism. The catchall party does not focus on ideology. In Russia, the United Russia party represents a catchall party. In 2009, the party adopted the "Russian Conservatism" as its ideology. Conservatism has adequately proven ability to reach larger parts of the electorate. The Catchall party system can influence the electoral systems in Russia.
Single-Issue Parties
Single issue party has appeared in Russia, but only one of the parties has succeeded in the electoral process. Women of Russia campaigned for their seat in parliament through social media welfare platforms. They based their campaigns mostly on the idea that women are gentler, delicate and can make good public officials. The party won eight percent of the votes in the 1993 Duma elections. However, the party has not won any seats since the 1993 elections in the Duma parliament. Other single-issue parties also exist in Russia such as the Association of the Russian advocates, Muslin Social Movement, Utility Workers of Russia, the Party of Pensioners, and the Russian Party for the Protection of Women. Single-issues parties are mostly meant to advocate and stand for the rights of a particular group for example women and children's rights. The party system of the Russian government also incorporates the devotees. The devotee’s parties are made of a single personality.
The Dominant Party and Democracy
The existence of the dominant party (United Russia) in Russia has created the improved the state of democracy in Russia. Each party is free to choose its mandates and policy if elected to parliament. The smaller parties offer an alternative to voters so that the larger parties can be able to protect their claims and ideology to retain their seat. Zhirinovsky has been devastated by the nationalist alternatives which have been mandated by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and Nationalist party.
Party Decision Making and Pluralism
The smaller parties can exhibit an electoral threat to the dominant party. The pluralism influences the party decision making in that the attributes of ideology that most of the parties possess and the fact that the prevailing parties are not under any pressure of mobilizing smaller parties have influenced independent decision making among the parties. By having independent decision making, parties are more likely to develop simplification of competition hence party developments remain unchanged. The choices of the electorate voting and decision making do not in any way conform to the political leadership of different parties in the party system.
