By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow : The Russian justice ministry has registered three more political parties under new legislation enacted earlier this year by then-president Dmitry Medvedev following a wave of protests over an alleged vote fraud.
The new parties – Young Russia, Cities of Russia and New Russia – increase the number of registered parties to 12.
The new law, which came into force in April, radically reduces the number of members required for registration to 500 from 40,000.
The Kremlin reformed party legislation in response to the mass street protests that followed widely contested parliamentary elections in December.
However, the reform, signed into law by Medvevev in May, upheld a ban on election blocs, which prompted critics to accuse the Kremlin of trying to fracture party politics.