Rodina

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For other uses of "Rodina", see Rodina (disambiguation).

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Rodina or Motherland-National Patriotic Union (Rodina - Narodno-Patriotičeskij Sojuz, Партия "РОДИНА") is one of the four parties that control seats in the Russian legislature. It is a coalition of 30 nationalist and left-wing groups that was established by Dmitry Rogozin, Sergey Glazyev, Sergey Baburin, Viktor Gerashchenko and others in August of 2003, the party's ideology combines nationalist and socialist ideas. Its headquarters are located in Moscow. Many accuse Rogozin and Glazyev of establishing the party on behalf of the Kremlin to siphon power from the Communist Party. In the 2003 Duma elections, Rodina managed to win 9.2 percent of the vote or 37 of the 450 seats in the Duma. Analysts contend that most of these voters had become disillusioned with the Communist Party after it accepted bribes from leading Russian oligarchs. However, following allegations brought by the Communist Party and ousted reform-oriented liberal parties such as the Union of Right Forces and Yabloko that Putin's United Russia coalition had manipulated elections to ensure a favorable outcome, Rodina declined to officially choose its own presidential candidate for the 14 March 2004 elections. This created a schizm in Rodina; Glazyev insisted on running for President under the banner of an officially separate Rodina party. Rogozin managed to consolidate the support and defeat Glazyev.

Since the 2003 elections, the party has mostly supported the politics of President Vladimir Putin. However, in February 2005 four Rodina deputies, including Dmitry Rogozin, went on a public hunger strike and locking themselves in their offices in the State Duma in protest at the social benefit reforms being pushed through by Putin's Government. The bloc since this time increasingly has adopted the slogan "Za Putina, Protiv Pravitel'stva" (For Putin, Against the Government), and has stated its immediate aim to be the securing of a parliamentary majority at the 2007 State Duma elections.

In July 2005 co-leader Sergey Baburin left the bloc, taking 9 deputies with him and sitting as an alternative group in the State Duma, also calling itself 'Motherland'. The split, however, proved the catalyst for a reunion between the supporters of Dmitry Rogozin and Sergey Glazyev.

Dmitry Rogozin has in recent months accused the Kremlin of waging a dirty war against his bloc, which he says is feared by United Russia for its potential electoral support. Rogozin has also announced intentions to take legal action against the State Duma for allowing Baburin to register his bloc in the Duma as 'Motherland', creating potential confusion amongst the electorate.

On November 6th Rodina was barred from taking part in the December elections to the Moscow Duma following a complaint by the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia that their campaign advert incited racial hatred. The advert, which showed dark-skinned Caucasian immigrants tossing watermelon rinds to the ground and ended with the slogan, "let's clear our city of trash", garnered much controversy and opinion polls held that Rodina would come second with close to 25% in the December vote. Rogozin appeal the decision, but the ban was upheld on the 1st December.

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