In September this year, elections of deputies of the State Duma will be held in Russia.
The campaign starts almost immediately after the New Year holidays.
After a difficult pandemic year, which passed under the flag of the fight against COVID-19, the political landscape in Russia has seriously adjusted.
Of course, as before, the Russian voter's first place is the demand for stability and security.
In this sense, the last leap year only added anxiety and worries.
Therefore, the active core of supporters of the party in power is only expanding.
Today, voters associate the United Russia party as the party of Putin, the president and national leader who is beyond competition with the overwhelming majority of citizens.
The majority party will certainly confirm its status in September, although, of course, this will require a lot of work.
The excellent result in the regional elections last year of the EDG-2020 suggests that the United Russia is not ossified and is fully mobilized in difficult conditions.
Analysts predict that United Russia will retain up to 60% of the seats in the VIII Duma.
True, for this you need to implement a number of conditions.
Experts see the rotation of candidates from the ruling party as one of the key points by no less than half, or even more.
The voter wants to see in parliament not only new faces, but also his real representatives, reflecting the concrete and direct interests of citizens.
The upcoming party primaries will obviously help United Russia find such popular candidates.
True, it is for these very new faces that the struggle will unfold.
Approximately the same with respect to fresh blood applies to the old Duma parties.
In addition, for the Communist Party and the Liberal Democratic Party, these elections are a swan song for their permanent leaders: Zyuganov is already 76 years old, of which 27 he leads the new communists, Zhirinovsky is 74 years old, and he is the leader of the Liberal Democrats for 31 years.
The issue of changing leaders is the main issue for veterans of the country's political landscape.
And this issue, obviously, will be resolved in the course of the upcoming Duma campaign.
In addition, the eternal competitors for the second place this time can give way to new and small parties.
The alliance of Zakhar Prilepin's new party "For Truth" with the fourth Duma party "Fair Russia", which was outlined by the end of the year, can seriously compete for second place in the Duma competitions.
Zakhar's bright and dynamic team and the experience of veterans of the Russian parliamentarism of Just Russia may well have an explosive effect.
Moreover, Sergei Mironov, the leader of A Just Russia, may soon return to the Federation Council.
As an ex-speaker of the upper house of the Federal Assembly, he may well become a senator for life in the context of the new constitutional amendments.
In general, new and small parties performed excellently in the regional elections last year at the EDG-2020, which, of course, makes the prospect of their passage to the State Duma in September more than realistic.
They actually filled the empty niches of the political space with a serious entry into the territory of the old parties - "parties of the past."
For example, the parties “New People” by Nechaev, “For Truth” and “Green Alternative” or older ones, but the trend is the Party of Pensioners and “Rodina” received representation in regional parliaments and will now be able to participate in parliamentary elections without collecting signatures.
And if Za Pravda really merge with A Just Russia, then A. Zhuravlev's Rodina has a decent chance of passing the 5% barrier and finally forming a faction in the new parliament.
The same chances, in general, are with the "pensioners".
The Party of Pensioners has significantly increased its political weight.
The “new people” also have a chance to overcome the barrier, but this time on the right liberal flank.
Thus, new and small parties are determined to significantly shake up the CPRF and LDPR in the upcoming elections.
The claims of the Duma inmates for the status of the opposition do not fully correspond to the level of feedback from voters and are not always coupled with the citizens' perception of opposition activities, which is often used by the so-called non-systemic oppositionists, and in fact - agents of external influence on the political agenda within the country.
In general, outside interest in the upcoming elections to the State Duma is several times higher than usual.
Many of the external actors associate these elections with “an attempt to successfully interfere in the internal affairs of Russia and the implementation of a coup d'état according to the scenario of a“ color revolution ”.
Which, of course, they are unlikely to succeed, but they certainly will try.
Serious funding has already been allocated through both various funds and state budgets.
Reconnaissance at a number of embassies was carried out, respectively, accessible media and Internet platforms were sharpened.
The parliamentary elections in Russia, the election campaign itself, will undoubtedly become one of the main topics not only of domestic Russian political life in the new year, but of the entire world information agenda.
The author's point of view may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.