Page 11 - RusRPTSept21

Russia has a hybrid system that is partially democratic as Putin needs genuine support, but at the same time he controls all the levers of power. He cannot allow the gap between the real votes and those the Kremlin injected into the system to become too wide.
And Putin does enjoy the support of roughly half the population that are partly grateful for the stability and prosperity he brought in the boom years in the 1990s, but who also support him as they see no alternative.
Another way of seeing it is the electorate in Ukraine, where a political pleurisy and a vibrant civil society are fighting to make their country better. Russia has neither of those things and the voters are simply fighting to prevent things from getting worse; to protect the hard won gains they have made in the last two decades.
Regional battles and opposition parties
Aside from the backlash of increasing the pension age, United Russia is also facing uphill battles in many regions as its support across the country is uneven.
According to the Scientific and Methodological Center for Rural Youth Problems, which conducted a poll at the end of July, there is significant variance in the ruling party’s popularity. In Far Eastern Khabarovsk, United Russia polled just 12%, a long way behind 36% for the far-right LDPR, for which the China-border region is a stronghold. The rest of the Far East – such as Buryatia (19%), Zabaikalsky Region (22%) and Primorsky (25%) – also shows significantly less support than the national average for the ruling faction. In other parts of the country, such as Muslim-majority Chechnya (83%) and Dagestan (69%), as well as mainly Buddhist Tuva (82%), the poorest region in Russia, it is significantly more popular than every other party combined.
The two best-supported opposition parties also face regional variance, and their struggle to make an impact on the national level is a significant handicap.
The biggest opposition group is the KPRF and relatively popular in the industrial centre of the country, enjoying 38% of support in Ulyanovsk and significant backing in Buryatia, Khakassia, and Omsk. Nationwide, it polls at 16.2%. In recent months, the Communists have branded themselves as the anti-United Russia option, expending significant effort to distance themselves from the current political elites, and have vocally opposed the unpopular pension reforms. They have also come out against “political repression,” and
11 RUSSIA Country Report September 2021 www.intellinews.com