Russia opens floodgates to new parties

Russia's Federation Council, the upper house of Parliament, approved on Wednesday a law easing registration rules for new parties, the first in a series of reforms outgoing President Dmitry Medvedev has promised to liberalise the country's political system.

The law, which will come into effect after Mr. Medvedev signs it on Monday, slashes the minimum number of members a new party needs to be registered from 40,000 to 500 and simplifies a few other procedures.

Other reforms announced by Mr. Medvedev include restoring direct elections of governors in Russia's 83 regions, which were cancelled seven years ago, and making changes in the electoral system.

The new party law will open floodgates to the rise of new political parties. There are currently seven registered parties, four of which sit in Parliament. After party registration rules were tightened seven years ago the Justice Ministry has cancelled the registration of two dozen parties and registered only one new party, the pro-Kremlin Right Cause.

The Kremlin launched political reforms in response to unprecedented public protests against the current electoral system, which were sparked by evidence of massive fraud at recent parliamentary and presidential elections.

Critics denounced the new party law as an “imitation” of democratic reforms designed to consolidate the power of President-elect Vladimir Putin. They said the drastic lowering of registration demands will lead to the explosive growth of dwarf parties that will badly fragment the political scene and strengthen the dominant position of Mr. Putin's party, United Russia.

The Justice Ministry said it has already received about 80 applications from aspiring parties, which includes such exotic names as a Subtropical Party and Russia's Singing Cedars.

“The Kremlin has a simple plan – to reduce to absurdity and discredit the idea of a multi-party system,” said opposition politician Ilya Ponomaryov.

However, analysts said parties with credible ideology and charismatic leaders stand a chance of winning a national following and edging out the current Kremlin-co-opted parliamentary parties