Russia failed to build new political system – Communist leader

The Russian leadership’s attempt to build a new political system with a right- and left-wing opposition in the country has failed, says Communist Party (KPRF) leader Gennady Zyuganov.

In an interview with Rosbalt news agency, the Communist leader slammed the ruling power for its inability to create a democratic system and stated that the upcoming State Duma election is going to be crucial. Zyuganov recalled that the leadership had tried to create a right-wing opposition represented by the Right Cause party led by Russia’s third-richest man, Mikhail Prokhorov. Having joined the party in June this year, the successful businessman who had no experience in politics was aiming at securing 15 per cent of the vote in the elections. “This project came to total grief,” Zyuganov observed. There have also been attempts to “prop up” the majority United Russia faction with “a left leg” – the Fair Russia party, led by former Federation Council Speaker Sergey Mironov. “This is not going very successfully either,” the Communist chief pointed out.Now, Zyuganov believes, the ruling party has no choice but to forge the election results by “stealing” votes, oppressing opponents through an information war and “using an administrative-police truncheon in order to knock out the required results.” The Communist leader warned that using these old methods to retain power may be “extremely dangerous.” “United Russia has its supporters, so they should not overstep their limits and rig the [election] results. It will end up with big trouble,” Zyuganov said. The politician also suggested that President Dmitry Medvedev – who heads the United Russia election list in the parliamentary election on December 4 – should be above the interests of some of his party comrades who want to get 60-70 per cent of the vote at any cost. The KPRF chief is confident that not that many people support the ruling faction.“[Medvedev] must preserve his political reputation, an image of a person who still stands up for democracy,” Zyuganov stated.The long-time Communist leader observed that there is a big difference between the previous and current parliamentary election campaigns. “These elections will be fateful. This time we are electing not only a new parliament and a new president, but also a new course for Russia’s development,” he told Rosbalt. This new course should let the country peacefully and in a democratic way escape from “the dead end it has been pushed into in the past two decades.” Zyuganov recalled that before its collapse, the Soviet Union used to be among the top five countries in terms of development, security, education, and science. Today, Russia is lagging behind many other countries in those fields. But in corruption, crime and the death rate, Russia is among those topping the list. “No one can be proud of it. It’s simply disgraceful,” Zyuganov noted. Last week, the KPRF released its election program titled “Return the Stolen Motherland.” On some major points, the document has much in common with the program of the United Russia party and the government’s declared priorities.