United Russia
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United Russia is the dominant political party in the authoritarian state of Russia, currently holding 324 of the 450 seats in the Duma and 142 seats out of 170 in the Russian Federation Council. The party is pro-Putin and supports Russian nationalism, conservatism, statism, and imperialism.[1]
Party of crooks and thieves[edit]
The party was initially constructed in 2001 for the express purpose of getting Vladimir Putin a designated political machine for him to win elections. It happened to cohere, remain a viable force, and develop a platform like an actual party, purely out of a happy accident. United Russia claims to be (depending on the moment) centrist, conservative, or center-right, but they're actually populist and of course authoritarian, (and vaguely corporatist) — they claim their purpose is to remove the difference between young and old, rich and poor, et cetera, which was what, you know, communism is supposed to do.
As you'd expect, United Russia follows whatever
Putin wants it to follow, while hogging votes through aggressive propaganda, underhanded manipulations rather than straight-up voter disenfranchisement, and straight-up ordering people how to vote. It isn't quite the juggernaut the Communist Party was because United Russia is mostly populated by bureaucrats who simply know how to broker deals with the Mafia and the oligarchs. However, they're still an unpleasant bunch who are only held together because they want the perks that come with being a member of the Putinarchy.
Currently, it panders to their version of the religious right, most notably with its LGBT discrimination and its blasphemy laws that exempt the Russian Orthodox Church from taxes and other legal penalties based on "religious freedoms."
It heavily favors neo-Tsarist ideas, where the ruling elites hold most of the power. Still, it throws a bone to older citizens who want crypto-Soviet era policies like anti-sexual content laws over media. The only thing these camps can agree upon is that liberal "pro-Westernists" should be given the boot, and Russia should be de-Americanized.
An Internet campaign started by blogger and corruption fighter Alexei Navalny resulted in United Russia getting the nickname "the party of swindlers and thieves", an expression that has become popular both online and offline and now pops up in Google's suggestions right after the party name in Russia.
Fun fact: the Web of Trust gives the party website low ratings on everything, including child safety.[2]
See also[edit]
- Vladimir Putin - the supreme leader and figurehead of the party.
- A Just Russia - social democratic party and the one of few dissident parties allowed in Russian politics.
- Liberal Democratic Party of Russia - a far-right party, known for its even more extremism and insanity that makes United Russia look like centrists in comparison.
- Communist Party of the Russian Federation - a competitor in the State Duma, although it’s just a joke like the other parties and only there for show.
- Communist Party of the Soviet Union - though not really ancestral to United Russia, UR took some inspiration from the party, mostly from its authoritarianism.
- Chinese Communist Party - its functional Chinese equivalent and counterpart.