Elections in Russia have lost any intrigue long time ago. Everyone knew and understood that the ruling party United Russia will be the winner and will receive the majority, even if it is simple majority, of seats in the Duma.
However, the preliminary results of the vote show that the ruling party suffered substantial losses. The result of 49.54 percent after counting 96 percent of ballots suggests that, compared with the elections in 2007, the United Russia is short for 14 percent of votes, losing the constitutional majority. At the same time the Communist Party received 19 percent (in 2007 they had 11.57 percent), Fair Russia – 13 percent (2007 – 7.74 percent), and LDPR – almost 12 percent (2007 – 8.14 percent). Administrative resource presented itself in all its glory. To start Meshchansky inter-district court of Moscow made the decision to charge the association Golos [which was watching out for violations of election laws. – Ed.] with the fine of 30,000 rubles for illegal publication of “public opinion polls” on the website Map of Violations. During the court session the letter of the head of CEC to the Prosecutor General Yuriy Chaika, where the head of CEC Vladimir Churov accuses Golos of “attempt for assumption of state authority,” was added to the case materials.
The Day requested Russian experts to comment on the results of the parliamentary elections that took place on December 4 in Russia and to answer the question: What trends are evident in these elections in Russia?
COMMENTARIES
Lilia SHEVTSOVA, senior fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center, political scientist:
“These parliamentary elections, according to the testimony of observers, including the highly respected ones, such as the organization Golos, which monitors violations during election campaigns, were, in fact, the ‘dirtiest’ and active, in terms of position of the authorities, in the history of modern Russia. Second, judging by the mood of the population already before the elections, more than 50 percent of Russian respondents predicted that the elections would be ‘dirty’ and the results will be rigged. It means that the Rus-sian people already before the elections had suggested that they would be unjust and unfair and that was proven during the campaign itself and during the vote. Lots of cases of throwing-in ballots were recorded, the so-called carousel technology, when the same people vote a couple times a day, was used in the most massive scale, there were manipulations with absentee ballots, observers were banished from voting stations, and so on. The result of this vote, as has been said by many observers, can be easily predicted. It is the delegitimation of the Russian government, which began even before the elections, when people suspected the authorities of fraud. Now this process has already begun and it would be hard to stop it. Undoubtedly, this process of delegitimation will also affect the up-coming presidential election in March next year. Delegitimation of power means that it will be harder to keep control of the situation in the country.”
Boris NEMTSOV, Russian politician, co-chairman of the opposition movement Solidarity and People’s Freedom Party:
“These were the dirtiest, most dishonest, and most fraudulent elections in the 20 years of Russia’s existence. Nobody in our country believes the results of these elections. The party of crooks and thieves [the party United Russia. – Ed.] has stolen votes from people. The main trend is that loosing popularity they resorted to the most brutal methods in order to retain power at any cost. Therefore, we do not recognize the elections as they are rigged. While a week ago people at the Olympic Sports Center booed and jeered Vladimir Putin, yesterday [comment was recorded on December 5. – Ed.], in fact, the whole country booed and jeered him. Putin’s era is coming to an end.”
