How many political parties are in Russia?
Political parties in Russia
After the Perestroika reforms in the 1980s Russia had over 100 registered parties, but the people elected to the State Duma represented only a small number of parties. After 2000, during Vladimir Putin's first presidency (2000-2008), the number of parties quickly decreased. From 2008 to 2012 there were only seven parties in Russia, and every new attempt to register new, independent parties was blocked. The last-registered party of this period was the government-organized Right Cause (registered on 18 February 2009). Before the 2011 parliamentary elections, about 10 opposition parties were denied registration. However, after a series of mass protests and a 2011 European Court decision on the case of the Republican Party of Russia, the law changed and the number of registered parties quickly increased to more than 48 as of December2012.