Poll shows three parties likely to be elected to next Russian parliament

Russian State Duma Building file photo

(Interfax – September 3, 2015)

With one year to go, half of Russian citizens have said they intend to vote in the next parliamentary election in Russia scheduled for 13 September 2016, according to an opinion poll conducted by Levada Centre. Thirty-one per cent have said they are “very likely” to vote and 19 per cent said they will “definitely” vote, the poll shows.

If the election to the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, were held next Sunday (6 September), 41 per cent of people in Russia as a whole, and 61 per cent of those who have said they will definitely vote, would vote for the ruling One Russia party. The CPRF (Communist Party of the Russian Federation) comes second – 10 per cent and 15 per cent accordingly, and the LDPR (Liberal Democratic Party of Russia) third – 7 per cent and 10 per cent accordingly.

The other parties, according to the poll, would not overcome a 5-per-cent threshold.

Only 3 per cent of people in Russia as a whole are ready to support the parliamentary opposition party A Just Russia and 2 per cent said they would vote for Civil Platform, which was founded by business tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov who has now left the party. Other parties – the Green Alliance – People’s Party, the Party of Progress, Yabloko and Motherland (Rodina) – are likely to win about 1 per cent of the vote, while the Kremlin’s fiercest critic, Parnas (People’s Freedom Party), and the Patriots of Russia are likely to win even fewer votes – under 1 per cent.

The next election to the State Duma will be held in line with the bill passed in 2014 which brought back a mixed electoral system – half of the 450 deputies will be elected from party electoral lists and the other half – in single-seat constituencies. Under the bill, to be elected, parties will have to overcome a 5-per-cent threshold, compared with a 7-per-cent threshold required until now.

Twelve per cent of those polled said they were unlikely to vote in the next parliamentary elections and 14 per cent said they would definitely not take part. One in five (21 per cent) is still undecided.

A total of 1,600 people took part in the poll conducted on 21-24 August in 134 centres of population in 46 regions in Russia.

 

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