Nikolas Gvosdev parses the results of Monday's regional elections in Russia where Putin's United Russia party suffered a few surprising setbacks:
So what we may be seeing is an attempt by the Kremlin to stabilize the long-term political landscape of Russia around United Russia as the dominant ruling party with three opposition parties permitted to function, to draw off steam and voter ire, and to help legitimize the system. Such an approach worked in Mexico for many decades. Will it be viable in Russia?
This seems to be the view endorsed (although not in so many words) by United Russia itself:
The speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament and top United Russia official Boris Gryzlov admitted that these local elections had been tougher than the last set of polls in October due to rises in utility prices."We need losses at a regional level so we recognise the causes of these losses and we correct them," he said in comments published on the United Russia website.
Of course, it's doubtful the party would countenance losses at the national level...
