ABSTRACT
The fall of the Soviet Union also ended the role of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) as the sole political party. However, it would be inaccurate to say that Russia has now moved to a properly functioning multi-party system. With the exception of the successor to the CPSU, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), other political groups are rather ill-defined movements, with no real party structure, economic programme or ideological position. Alliances between these groups are constantly changing. For example, prior to the elections to the State Duma, (lower house of the Russian parliament) of December 1999, hundreds of small parties formed into 26 alliances. The real surprise of the election was that ‘Unity’, an alliance formed only a short while before the election, should come second to the communists in the popular vote and, because of other support it could call upon in the Duma, become, in effect, the dominant party.
