2003 PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS: "RULING PARTY" TRIUMPH OR CPRF'S LOSS?

Abstract

The paper highlights the critical moment in the
history of post-Soviet parliamentarism - the election to the
State Duma of the fourth convocation at which for the first
time the ruling party celebrated a resounding victory over
the opposition. The confrontation between two leading parties,
United Russia and Communist Party of Russian Federation
(CPRF) in the course of 2003 election campaign is scrutinized
through the prism of unique materials forming part of the Collection
of the newest history political documents accumulated
in the State Public Historical Library. Their comparison and
analysis brought the author to the conclusion that the idea of
positioning United Russia as the party of responsible majority
which is clearly reflected in pre-election materials made a
considerable contribution to the triumph of the party. On the
other hand, initially advantageous CPRFs strategy aimed at
transforming the elections into all-peoples referendum on a
wide range of current socio-economic issues ultimately failed.