[A-List] Russia: the West laments

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

More pot calls kettle black exclusives...

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Putin accused of using state power to distort poll
By Mary Dejevsky in Moscow
The Independent, 09 December 2003

President Vladimir Putin hailed the convincing victory of his United Russia
party in Sunday's parliamentary election, describing it yesterday as
"another step towards strengthening democracy in Russia".

But international observers of the election said that, although it had been
free, it had been far from fair and - in some respects - called into
question Moscow's commitment to Western standards of democracy.

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the
Council of Europe had sent more than 400 observers all over Russia to
observe the conduct of the poll and the preparations that preceded it.
Generally, they were complimentary about the organisation of voting: the
accuracy of the electoral registers, the management of the polling stations
and the integrity of the count.

However, Bruce George MP, president of the parliamentary assembly of the
OSCE, was damning in his assessment of how the Kremlin had manipulated the
media - and how some sections of the media had allowed themselves to be
manipulated - in the run-up to the election. "Our main impression of the
overall electoral process was ... one of regression in the democratisation
of this country," he said.

Detailing some of the shortcomings, he went on: "In this election, the
enormous advantage of incumbency and access to state equipment, resources
and buildings led to the election result being overwhelmingly distorted."

He said that it was the "shared and unanimous view" of the observers that
those deficiencies "called into question Russia's willingness to move
towards European and international standards for democratic elections".

Mr Putin, addressing a meeting in the Kremlin, implicitly rejected the OSCE
criticism, stating: "The elections reflected the real sentiments of the
population ... and what Russians really think of the realities of our politi
cal life."

The provisional results, released by Russia's Central Electoral Commission
yesterday morning, gave United Russia, the pro-Putin party, 36.8 per cent,
making it the biggest single party in the Russian parliament since the
collapse of the Soviet Union.

The Communists just beat Vladimir Zhirinovsky's nationalist Liberal Democrat
party into second place, with 12.7 per cent and 11.6 per cent respectively.
The new left-patriotic party, Rodina (Homeland), took 9.1 per cent, with the
moderate reformist party, Yabloko, taking only 4.3 per cent, and the
free-market Union of Right Forces (SPS) only 3.7 per cent.

The failure of both parties on the reformist wing of the previous parliament
to pass the 5 per cent bar for representation as parliamentary parties was
widely interpreted as a setback for economic reform in Russia - though how
big a setback will depend on the direction in which Mr Putin takes United
Russia.

Mr Putin appeared to offer reassurance to fearful reformists when he said in
a meeting at the Kremlin that they would continue to have a voice at the
centre of power, despite their poor electoral showing. He said their ideas
and their people would still have a positive role to play.

The Communist leader, Gennadi Zyuganov, denounced the elections as a
"shameful farce" and said he would not accept the results until his party's
own monitors had reported from the constituencies and given him some
feedback.

The Communist vote was almost halved, largely reflecting the rise, from
nowhere, of Rodina, which had successfully exploited the issue of the
"oligarchs" in calling for Russia's natural resources to be returned to
state ownership. Otherwise, the Yukos oil company scandal appeared to have
little impact on the election.

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Russian liberals fear return of dictatorship
By Mary Dejevsky
The Independent, 09 December 2003
Two main interpretations of the Duma election results were current in Moscow
yesterday, and they were almost diametrically opposed.

The pessimistic view was that Russia risked a return to a more authoritarian
age, in which progress towards further democracy, a law-governed state and
more market reforms was postponed or shelved.

The liberal reformers, who did not receive a large enough proportion of the
vote to be represented in the new parliament, were especially apocalyptic.

The mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, who was re-elected with 74 per cent of
the vote, regretted that the Duma had been "shorn of its balancing forces on
the free-market right".

"The Duma needs a powerful centre," he said, "but it also needs a powerful
left and right. It now has a left but no right."

Christopher Granville, a political analyst at United Financial Group, took a
more upbeat view. He argued that although the reformists did not receive
enough votes to enter the Duma, President Vladimir Putin would continue to
listen to them. They had, after all, received four million votes and that
could not be ignored.

Mr Granville argued that United Russia would use its majority in the Duma to
continue Mr Putin's pro-Western reform programme without needing alliances
with the three "conservative" parties: the Communists; Vladimir
Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democrats; and the new left-patriotic party, Rodina.
He suggested, however, that some reforms, such as the deregulation of the
gas sector could be postponed.

The pessimists see Russia returning to a one-party state after a decade in
which no single force was dominant and one where United Russia's proportion
of the vote was larger than any party's since the collapse of the Soviet
Union.

The optimists believe that Mr Putin is a genuine reformer, hamstrung only by
the conservatism of his fellow countrymen, and that the vote for United
Russia reflects a general satisfaction with Mr Putin and his rule.

Because United Russia's platform was so vague, it is hard to divine the
direction the next Duma will take.

But Mr Putin will have to take account of the balance of forces the election
revealed. That does not include only the conservative result, however. It
also includes the divergence between the big cities of central and western
Russia and the rest.

Moscow and St Petersburg are often considered the advance guard of Russia's
politics. The electoral trends in these two cities may show what Russia's
political landscape will look like after the next Duma elections in four
years' time.