The question about democracy is neither here nor there, really.
In which Western country can you achieve real change through the ballot? None...
In Europe soon all political parties are equally New Labour-esque politcally correct clones of each other.
Turning democracy into a joke because no party is for any significant change. Those who are, are accused of being religious fanatics, clueless hippies, nazis,"stalinist" and similar by mainstream media to the point that nobody will vote for them.

In America it's already happened a long time ago and everyone is busy squabbling about the details of the near identical programmes of the republicans or democrates, while the corporations and elites are grabbing the wealth and the population is getting poorer and more unhealthy year by year.

I think that a much more interesting question is: Is Russia now a total nightwatch liberal country where you need money for everything from hospital care, university education. Are there decent paying jobs for people and pensions for pensioners? I don't really understand what the policies of Edinaya Rossiya are, what their ideology is, if they have one, and what their vision for Russia is.

What are the big differences in the politics of Edinaya Rossiya and the second largest party?