Emails, Jonathan Z. Ludwig, senior lecturer of Russian, Center for Languages & Intercultural Communication, Rice University, Aug. 25, 2014 (forwarded in emails from Jeff Falk, associated director of national media relations, Baker Institute for Public Policy)
9:28 a.m.
-----Original Message-----
From: Jonathan Z Ludwig Sent: Monday, August 25, 2014 9:05 AM
To: Jeff Falk
Subject: Re: Seeking expertise, modern Russia, for fact check
Jeff:
If he means party makeup, then any Parliamentary system will likely be more "diverse" that the US because they usually have multiple parties. I would have to check the exact number of people/parties in Russia. Or does he mean number of ethnic groups in Parliament? That might be harder to figure out.
…
--jonathan
1:16 p.m.
There are four parties holding Duma (Russian parliament) seats:
United Russia (which is for all intents and purposes Putin's party):
238 (just under 50%)
Communist: 92 seats
A Just Russia: 64 seats
LDPR (56 seats)
A Just Russia, although it was once chaired by a friend of Putin and is a conglomeration of several former smaller parties, now claims to be completely 100% against him and has voted against government budgets. It did support Medvedev. The only vote against Crimean annexation was from this party.
The Communist Party allies with Putin on supporting the close ties to the Russian Orthodox Church and in the anti-gay legislation (a holdover from Soviet-era laws).
LDPR is led by Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who once demonstrated his dislike of America by stomping on a Big Mac. It was long rumored, even during the Yeltsin years, that they were Kremlin funded, mostly to keep them as a viable party so that Yeltin/Putin/Medvedev looked good/sane by comparison. Despite their rhetoric, they often vote in lock-step with Putin.
I couldn't find any recent Duma voting records, but I would imagine that everyone except for A Just Russia generally votes for the Kremlin/Putin, and even they did in the Crimea vote, except for the one Deputy. I'm not sure about votes on other issues.
…
Dr. Jonathan Z. Ludwig
Senior Lecturer of Russian/Faculty in Asian Studies Member, Faculty Senate Member, Examinations and Standings Committee Rice University
-----Original Message-----
From: Selby, Gardner (CMG-Austin) [mailto:wgselby@statesman.com]
Sent: Monday, August 25, 2014 5:57 PM
To: Jeff Falk
Subject: RE: Seeking expertise, modern Russia, for fact check
Where did he glean his counts?
How would he judge the legislator's claim?
Thanks.
7:56 p.m.
Per Jonathan Ludwig, to answer your two follow-up questions:
Where did you glean your counts?
http://www.russiavotes.org/duma/duma_today.php
Of course, it's possible something might have happened with one or more seats since the election, but it wouldn't make a big difference.
How would you judge the legislator's claim ("Russia has more diversity in its governmental representation than we do in Texas")?
Only in the number of parties sitting in the Duma (4 vs. 2 in Texas), as is true in almost any Parliamentary system throughout Europe. But when you look at how the votes likely break down, there is a strong inclination to line up behind the Kremlin, i.e., Putin. There is also a strong incentive to do so, as you can see in this article on what happened to the lone deputy who voted against the Crimea resolution:
I honestly don't know how votes in the Texas legislature break down to compare.