Political Parties in Russia

The December 2011 elections will be the third time that Russia's current party of power, United Russia, has competed in a national election. United Russia has dominated elections over the past decade by ensuring cohesion among the regional elite, crafting an effective catch-all ideology, and capitalizing on Putin's popularity. This election will be no different. The only remaining questions are 1) whether the Kremlin's potent PR machine can revive United Russia's popularity, which has lagged slightly over the past several months and 2) whether the inclusion of outsiders from the All-Russian People's Front on United Russia's party list will frustrate party loyalists enough to cause them to defect. All signs indicate that the party is prepared to manage these issues and that United Russia will win the December polls by a large margin