Russians believe their country does not need democracy
Posted by Info on 18/10/2009
BBC NEWS: Levada-Centre said 1,600 people across Russia had been questioned.The poll by the Levada-Centre said 26% believed that democratic governing was not suitable for Russia.Nearly 95% of respondents said they had little or no influence on what was happening in the country.
Although the majority of them believe the country needs to be democratic, the results of the survey are an intriguing mix, the BBC’s Richard Galpin in Moscow says:
The majority (60%) also said it would be better for Russia if the president controlled both the courts and the parliament, which can hardly be described as a democratic aspiration.
The poll also suggested that 43% agreed with the question that the country sometimes needed an “iron fist” leader.And nearly 25% said the Soviet Union had a better political system that the current Russian model (36%) or that in Western countries (15%).
The poll came as Russian police arrested 10 people in Moscow who were protesting against an alleged fraud in last weekend’s regional and local elections.
