More Russians Say Country Needs Opposition
Moscow, 23 October; Interfax: More and more Russian citizens state the importance of political opposition in the country, social surveys have shown.
Since 2005, there has been a significant increase in the number of people who consider important the existence of opposition parties and movements capable of seriously influencing life in the country, Levada Centre pollsters told Interfax today.
According to their nationwide survey conducted in October, this view is currently shared by almost three quarters of Russians (71 per cent), while in 2007 this figure was 66 per cent and in 2005 - 61 per cent.
On the contrary, the number of people opposing the existence of opposition has dropped from 25 to 16 per cent in the last five years. The number of people having no personal opinion on this issue remained the same (13-14 per cent).
According to the survey, the importance of the opposition is most frequently backed by managers and executives (83 per cent), the unemployed (81 per cent), housewives (79 per cent), professionals (74 per cent), men in general (75 per cent), Russians aged 25-39 with higher education (80 per cent), (Russians aged 25-39) with high income (77 per cent), Moscow residents (77 per cent) and residents of cities with a population of 100,000-500,000 (76 per cent).
When asked by pollsters if there are any significant opposition parties or movements in Russia, some 38 per cent of participants in the latest survey gave a positive answer as opposed to 30 per cent in 2005. Around a half of the respondents (47 per cent) are sure that there is no opposition, which is similar to what it was five years ago. The number of people who could not give a definite answer dropped from 23 to 15 per cent.
The respondents who are sure that there are significant opposition parties and movements in Russia are most frequently the unemployed (54 per cent), students (43 per cent), servicemen (42 percent) and men in general (40 per cent), Russians aged 25-40 (40 per cent), (Russians aged 25-40) having vocational secondary education (41 per cent), (Russians aged 25-40) having low income (43 per cent) and those living in cities with a population of 100,000-500,000 people (42 per cent).
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