Is Putin's Popularity Waning ?

I don't think most Americans have ever bought into the idea of Russia being a real democracy. Sure, they have elections. But it seems like whatever purported strongman Vladimir Putin wants, he gets. He was easily elected president twice, and when he was constitutionally prevented from running for a third consecutive term, his hand-picked successor (Medvedev) was easily elected. Add to this the fact that Putin's political party, United Russia, controlled about two-thirds of the seats in Russia's legislature, the Duma, and it looked like Putin was ruling Russia with an iron hand, much as his communist predecessors had done.

But that may have just been an illusion, created and clung to by Americans unwilling to believe Russia had truly joined the democratic world. This last weekend Russia had elections for a new Duma, and those new elections show there may be a real democracy in that country after all. With 75% of the vote counted, it looks like Putin and his United Russia Party have been given a stinging rebuke by Russian voters (with a far smaller percentage of the vote than the 64% they received in 2007). Here's how it stands for the parties:

United Russia...............50%
Communist...............19.3%
A Just Russia...............13%
Liberal Democratic Party...............11.8%

That's quite a setback for United Russia -- especially with Putin again running for election as president next March (just a little over three months away). This does not mean that Putin won't once again be elected to Russia's presidency -- he probably will be. There is no candidate so far who has much of a chance at getting more votes than Putin. But it does mean he won't have as easy a time ruling the country in his next term. He will only have a razor-thin majority in the Duma, and may well have to give in on some issues to the minor parties (if they are able to unify on those issues).

After these election results, it looks like Americans may have to re-evaluate their opinion of Russia's democracy. It may be a fledgling democracy, but it could be the real thing.