While it should have come as no great surprise that the two largest parties in the Duma decided to join forces, their action was enough to prompt a walk-out by members of smaller political parties left on the sidelines. Only Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democrats offered their support of the move. Their combined forces allowed for the easy election of Communist Gennady Seleznyov as speaker of Russia's third Duma.
It's hard to know exactly where this new Duma will turn its attention first. In fact, the only indication of its political priorities came from Unity party leader Boris Gryzlov. "One of the most long-awaited draft laws is the one permitting individuals to freely buy and sell land," Gryzlov said. "This will be, I gather, one of our top priorities."
Of course, most new members have other things on their minds. Almost two-thirds of the new Duma deputies are serving their first term in parliament. Many of these members are newcomers to politics too. For the moment, they're busy settling down in their new environment.
This includes finding friends and identifying foes, aligning themselves with this or that political force or influential person, gaining a seat on this or that committee and bargaining for some official posts.
Out of the 27 Duma committees, 4 are considered the most attractive: finance, international affairs, security and defense. Membership on this last panel is viewed as the most valuable, as it controls about 30 percent of the federal budget. And for the head of the defense committee, there's the added bonus of plenty of publicity. Roman Popkovich, for example, was a virtual unknown until he became chairman of the committee. Two years later, he has a flourishing career on television.
The Communists were willing to sacrifice leadership of this lucrative panel in exchange for chairmanship of the security committee. This would have been a politically astute bargain. In the days leading up to the presidential election, this panel will be especially valuable since it has control of all the records that could prove compromising to potential candidates.
But Putin clearly understood the value of this committee too, which explains why chairmanship eventually went to Alexander Gurov, the number-three man in his Unity party.
As the front-runner in the current presidential campaign, Putin is paying close attention to the composition of the new Duma. So far, with most of Russia's political elite proclaiming "Putin is our President!", he seems to be succeeding in establishing his control over parliament. There's little doubt that key posts in the Duma will be occupied by those who support Putin and who are supported by him.
Unfortunately, while this may serve his purpose, it may not serve the purpose of the nation. It means that politics will prevail over sound policies. In the past, such an approach has not been successful in Russia.
Oleg Odnocolenko is a staff writer for Segodnya, a daily newspaper in Moscow.