Political Reform in Russia under the Rule of Vladimir Putin: Law on Political Parties and its Influence on Political Opposition

The thesis Political Reform in Russia under the Rule of Vladimir Putin:Law on Political Parties and its Influence on Political Opposition deals with the impact of the aforesaid law on Russia's opposition parties during Putin's presidency, i. e. in the period between enacting this law in 2001 and 2008. It focuses on then three main opposition parties, namely Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Union of Right Forces and Yabloko. It analyzes the impact of the aforesaid law on the opposition parties in the following three areas of activity: registration; financing; and participation in the political process as exemplified through the elections for the State Duma in 2003. The analysis allows us to conclude that the impact of the aforesaid law was lower than conventionally believed. That said, however, does not mean that the ruling regime would not seek to severely curtail the parties standing in opposition to President Putin. It did so using predominantly other methods, such as dirty election campaigns, targeted crackdown on the opposition's key sponsor, and administrative interference with the election process