Over half of the Russian citizens polled by sociologists - 57 per cent - believe there is a need for political opposition in Russia today.
One in five respondents (19 per cent) believe there should be no political opposition in the country; one fourth of those polled (24 per cent) have no definite opinion on the matter, the Levada Centre (polling organization) told Interfax on Tuesday (28 July) on the basis of results of a survey conducted in July.
The number of Russians who believe the existence of opposition in the country to be necessary has been decreasing gradually over the last few years, from 62-63 per cent in 2005-08.
Thirty-nine per cent of the respondents answered positively when asked whether political opposition exists in Russia at the moment, which is a fall of 5 per cent year-on-year.
The number of Russians who believe there is no opposition in the country hardly changed - 38 per cent against 35 per cent in 2008. The number of people who had difficulty in answering the question went up from 19 to 23 per cent.
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