Sixteen of Russia’s political parties are now cleared to run in the 2021 State Duma Elections
Sixteen of Russia’s political parties are now able to participate in the 2021 State Duma elections without collecting endorsement signatures, announced Central Election Commissioner Ella Pamfilova during a press conference (broadcast on Youtube) on the results of the local elections that took place over the weekend.
“Thirteen parties already had the right to participate in the parliamentary elections without collecting signatures. Now their number has grown to 16 political parties,” Pamfilova said.
According to the Central Election Commissioner, the three “new” additions to the list — the parties New People, Green Alternative and For Truth — all managed to overcome the five-percent barrier in at least one region during the elections.
From September 11–13, regional parliamentary elections took place in 11 of Russia’s regions. Nine parties broke the five-percent barrier in different regions: United Russia, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF), the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), A Just Russia, the Party of Pensioners for Social Justice, New People, Green Alternative, Rodina (Motherland), and For Truth.
Eighteen regions also elected “new” heads over the weekend. In all cases, either the incumbent governor or a candidate who had previously served as acting regional leader won the vote.
Read more about elections in Russia
- Russia’s weekend regional election results, in a nutshell
- Russia’s 2020 elections hotspots A semblance of real political competition makes the upcoming vote worth following in several regions
- Rise of the spoiler parties The Putin administration is building political parties to split the opposition vote. Say hello to new groups from a nationalist novelist and the product director for World of Tanks.
Endorsements
Parties that didn’t manage to clear the five-percent barrier during regional parliamentary elections are now required to collected at least 200,000 supporting signatures if they want to participate in the next State Duma elections.
Which 13?
According to the Central Election Commission, the 13 parties are United Russia, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF), the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR), A Just Russia, Communists of Russia, Patriots of Russia, the Party of Pensioners for Social Justice, Yabloko, Rodina, the Party of Growth, the Russian Ecological Party (“The Greens”), the Communist Party of Social Justice, and Civic Platform.
New People
The New People party was created by Alexey Nechayev, the founder of the beauty and apparel company Faberlic, in March 2020. The party’s candidates were elected to regional parliaments in the Ryazan, Novosibirsk, Kostroma, and Kaluga regions.
Green Alternative
Green Alternative was established in 2019. It’s informal leaders is artist Vasya Lozhkin. It’s candidates were elected to regional parliaments in the Komi and Chelyabinsk regions.
For Truth
For Truth is the party of nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin, which was founded in February 2020. The party has suggested holding referendums on Russia annexing Donbas (the conflict-affected region of eastern Ukraine), Transnistria (a breakaway territory in Moldova), as well as Abkhazia and South Ossetia (breakaway territories that most countries consider part of Georgia) . For Truth’s candidates were elected to the regional parliament in the Ryazan Region.