But Vedomosti wrote that political experts did not believe it was a good idea.
Ivan Starikov, the secretary of the Union of Right Forces' federal political council, has suggested the right- and left-wingers boycott the elections together. He said the idea could be supported by the Union of Right Forces (SPS), the Yabloko liberal party, the Communist Party (KPRF), the Homeland patriotic bloc, and other opposition parties.
However, the paper wrote that the idea was not very popular even among SPS members, as the party's political ideology secretary, Leonid Gozman, said it was "totally unrealistic."
The Communists are not prepared to boycott the elections either. Vadim Solovyov, the secretary of the party's central committee, said the Party of Pensioners and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) would capitalize on an election without them. Besides, the Communists' campaign against the Duma elections had not brought any noticeable results in provinces. Solovyov said challenging the election law via the Constitutional Court and staging major protests were a more effective approach.
Sergei Mitrokhin, a deputy leader of Yabloko, said the opposition had to decide on its tactics in early 2007. He added it would depend on whether President Putin chose to run for a third presidential term. "Only a strong opposition can afford to boycott elections when it is able to inspire 100,000 people to take to streets," he told the newspaper.
Even if the opposition succeeds in persuading its voters to boycott the elections, it will mean turnout will fall by 35%, i.e. 20% of the opposition's electorate and 15% of those who never vote, according to Dmitry Polikanov of the All-Russian Public Opinion Center. "I think the boycott will only add several percent of voters to those who do not traditionally go to the polls," said Andrei Milekhin, the general director of the ROMIR Monitoring research group.
However, a massive boycott would make the Duma elections illegitimate in the West's eyes and would promote the "Ukrainian scenario" in Russia, said a political scientist who preferred to remain anonymous.
Another prominent political scientist, Stanislav Belkovsky, said that if the boycott were successful, opposition parties would not to go begging to the Kremlin, but would be able to put forward their demands in exchange for ensuring a proper turnout.
