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When the Russian parliamentary election returns came in last December, and when President Boris Yeltsin unexpectedly resigned making Prime Minister Vladimir Putin acting President, members of BCSIA''s Strengthening Democratic Institutions (SDI) Project were watching with more than a sporting interest.
SDI has not only become a top source of information about the elections for U.S. policymakers through its monthly Russian Election Watch, but over the past five years has worked directly with many Russian parties and politicians to support democratization there.
From this perspective, Russia''s eventful December was rather discouraging. The "Unity" bloc (endorsed by Putin) won nearly 25 percent of the vote despite having no major issue positions, no significant local organization, and having been created only three scant months before the elections.
Further, Putin''s (and hence Unity''s) popularity grew mainly thanks to the war in Chechnya and a massive media assault on parties that had invested a great deal of effort in party-building, including Yabloko and Fatherland-All Russia.
SDI''s goal of assisting political party development now seems more distant than before, as the number of independent candidates elected actually rose from the 1995 elections.
Nevertheless, other results, if not inspiring, are still cause to believe that SDI efforts are helping to push in a positive direction.
For one thing, Grigory Yavlinsky''s reformist Yabloko Party won seats in parliament for the third consecutive time, despite its unpopular moderate stand on Russia''s war in Chechnya. SDI has long worked with Yabloko to build up its organization, and Yabloko''s efforts in this direction may have helped save it from falling below the critical 5 percent threshold for Duma admission.
More impressively, Russia''s Democratic Choice, another SDI party-building partner from past programs, managed to make a respectable showing in 1999 as part of the Union of Right-Wing Forces despite four years in the proverbial wilderness after it failed to cross the 5 percent threshold in 1995.
Under BCSIA Director Graham Allison''s active leadership, SDI is committed to continuing its efforts in support of Russian democracy. These efforts now include plans for a party-building program for Unity, which, having no national-level parliamentary experience of its own, will seek to learn about the U.S. experience on Capitol Hill and at Harvard this spring.
Russian Election Watch will continue to provide updates and analysis as Russia heads toward its fateful presidential elections. SDI also plans several events to preview the election, including a briefing in Washington DC for media representatives and policymakers. A symposium highlighting the Duma elections was held in October in conjunction with Harvard''s Davis Center for Russian Studies.
Russian Election Watch is on the Web at www.ksg.harvard.edu/bcsia/russianelectionwatch