Russians aren’t enthusiastic about new parties – Public Opinion Foundation

(Interfax – August 5, 2013) Russians are not enthusiastic about new parties and the only interest they take is that in the very fact of their appearance, Public Opinion Foundation General Director Alexander Oslon concluded from their sociological studies.

“People do not expect any concrete results from the appearance of large number of political parties. I would say they are daydreaming about a possible improvement,” Oslon told a press conference at Interfax on Monday.

The recent survey of party preferences in the context of possible elections of the Moscow City Duma demonstrated a meager interest in the new parties, he said.

“Here is the actual attitude to the parties. The Navalny People’s Alliance gained 2 percent in the poll regarding parties, which might be supported in the Moscow City Duma elections, only because the party leader was a media personality. The other parties ranked from 0 percent to 1 percent. The interest in this new phenomenon is purely theoretical. In fact, there is practically no interest whatsoever,” the expert said.

As to the major political actors, the survey showed that United Russia could win 30 percent of the Moscow vote, the Russian Communist Party could win 9 percent, the Liberal Democratic Party – 7 percent and A Just Russia 4 percent. These are brand parties. While non-brand parties score zero,” Oslon said.

He compared the interest of Russians in new parties with their interest in new car models. “The demand for new parties is manifested exclusively in the answers to the question “would you like the appearance of new parties”, just like people would have answered the question “would you like the appearance of new car models”. They are curious about what those new models could be,” said the foundation head.