Loss of Control, Manipulation, Protest
The 2011 Duma Elections in Russia
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
The power of the Kremlin party United Russia is crumbling. In the Duma elections of December 2011, so many voters withdrew their trust in the party that it could maintain its absolute majority in the Duma only by means of manipulation and open election fraud. The reasons for this are a change in Russia’s social structure, a tarnished image of the leadership duo of Vladimir Putin and Dmitrii Medvedev, the decoupling of the leadership in Moscow from regional elites, and a growing mood of protest within the country.
(Osteuropa 1/2012, pp. 25–40)