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GET IT OFF YOUR CHEST - Will Russia's Duma election be free and fair?

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Marzipan6 December 1, 2007, 06:05: There was a national election in Australia last weekend. The Prime Minister and government of more than 11 years standing was voted out of office.

No opposition personalities were arrested in the lead-up. No rallies were banned. No one was denied access to the media. And after the results were in, the outgoing Prime Minister sincerely congratulated the man who defeated him at the polls. The incoming Prime Minister paid sincere tribute to the public service of his predecessor.

Over the past week, the mechanics of change of government has have functioned smoothly, peacefully, politely. No one had hysterics; no one rioted; no one was arrested; no one was banned.

This is democracy. Whatever it is that plays out in Russia and that is called by the meaningless Putin-invented nonsense term of "sovereign democracy" has much more in common with that cynical Soviet invention, "people's democracy".
David November 30, 2007, 21:37: Inga :
Hell, Inga, I didn't think of it like that.
Personally, I think you scored a bulls eye. Well done!
Eric November 30, 2007, 20:11: I just watched your report on the provisions being made so Russians living in the United States can vote. That is outstanding! When my family and I (all US citizens) lived abroad in the 1980s and 1990s, there was no provision for US citizens abroad to go vote. Not even in the US embassy or consulate.

Perhaps military personnel had more opportunities, but we were not in the military and we were told that the only way for us to vote was to contact the town in the US where we last were registered to vote, to ask them to send us a paper "absentee" ballot, mark that ballot, and send it back before the election deadline.

This is, first of all, extremely inconvenient, and second of all, many people may never have registered to vote in the US prior to moving abroad. Some people were too young when they left the US and reached voting age abroad - for one thing. Other people simply never voted when they had the opportunity before. But since the US apparently made no provisions for its citizens abroad to exercise their right to vote, people never registered in the US simply are denied that right of citizenship.

I don't know if possibly this situation has changed in the last 15 years or so. Perhaps the US has improved provisions for its citizens abroad; I don't know. In any case, at least as far as I am aware, Russia today is doing a better job for its citizens abroad than the US did when I was living outside the US.

So perhaps US officials who are accustomed to lecturing the world on how to be democratic should shut their mouths and listen for a change.

Regards,

Eric
inga November 30, 2007, 01:43: Is Russia is a democracy.? Well to be a so called Democracy their must be these facts.

1.Pro usa puppet government which takes orders from America. Pervez MUSHARRAF great democrat

2. American military bases

3. support of population must be under 50% no European president has over 40% support. Bush 25% support.

4. must always support America in everything she does.

So i guess Russia is not Democracy, 85% support for Mr Putin, Russia is sovereignty country not colonize like Europe which doesn't stand up to Europe on any import issue. The south America will tell you what Usa democracy really is just ask them they know it well. Most of the anti Russian comments are from east Europe which blames Russia for everything, they cannot take responsibility for their own failures. Russia will have a government RUSSIANS want and not what WEST wants.
Norman November 29, 2007, 21:54: Let's give Russia a chance to prove it's a democratic society! As I've said before, Russia has come a long way- in democracy and free market economy. There have to be some rules and limitations in any society. Wishing all Russians a great Election Day!!!
Sevodnya_Net November 29, 2007, 19:13: Actually I see Boris B has been sentenced to 6 years in prison in "absentia".
I wonder if this is North Absentia or South Absentia ???
Sorry, couldn't resist ...
Sevodnya_Net November 29, 2007, 19:07: David,
The last thing the West wants is the "downfall of Russia". A stable and prosperous Russia is to the benefit of the world. The fact is that it is Putin who has picked a fight with the West for his own political ends. He's far too intelligent to believe many of the things he tells his people (particularly the nonsense about the reasons for the OSCE no-show, which Jason again refers to).

Why are so many in the West suspicious of the Russian president? Is it because he has made Russia comparatively stable and wealthy? Of course not: it's specific issues - arms control, human rights, apparent political use of oil exports, Litvinenko, a series of deliberately provocative but ultimately harmless actions (eg the North Pole adventure) designed to provoke a response which in turn provokes the predictable retort that "the west's against us".
The breaking up of the political demos were a disgrace which should be condemned. Of course such things don't only happen in Russia - that isn't the point. The question you should ask is: why were the marches unauthorised in the first place?

Putin claims that Russia is a "developing democracy", but the fact is that the only thing which is "developing" is his hold on power. If "Fair Russia" was an attempt at starting a two-party system along the lines of republicans and democrats then the experiment appears to have been abandoned. In a sense this doesn't matter right now: Putin is a non-democrat swimming with a tide of nationalism which has no time for meaningful opposition parties - yet. If the tide ever turns it is impossible to see how that cannot lead to major problems.
I fully understand why so many Russians like and support Putin, and I can sympathise with them.

True friends of the Russian people should be speaking out against him. I tend to find that in the West it's only those with an axe to grind who stand up for him and all the dubious baggage he carries.

If anything most haven't criticised him enough, for the reason I gave at the start.
David November 29, 2007, 17:48: These elections will be free and fair - a hell of a lot freer and fairer than Zimbabwe or South Africa's so called democratic system.
Putin's strong stance and 'balls of steel' has made Russia what it is today and which is feared by the West. The West wanted a total downfall of Russia, and why, oil, gas and other mineral wealth that the West wants.
The arrests of those party leaders were only made because of unauthorised rallies/marches - the same happens in the West. To condemn the Russian authorities for actions such as this is unwarranted without condemning similar actions in the West.
jason November 29, 2007, 16:45: Russia's upcoming election reminds me a lot of Egypt's, or Zimbabwe's: shameless suppression of opposition. Democracy doesn't work if there is no choice. But to be fair, if Russians want a Putin led democracy-dictatorship, they should be entitled to it. Sure, when it comes down to it there isnt much real difference between democrats and republicans in the US, but at least parties in power dont beat up, and disperse nonviolent opposition rallies.

I wonder if Putin's hypocritical comments concerning the election monitors was covered in any detail in the russian press. First, he doesn't want them, fair enough. If I were a world power and "needed" election monitor to say my election was fair, I'd be a bit embarrassed. To do this, their visas are delayed. Then, go out and say that washington is pressuring the monitors to stay away to discredit russia's elections?! You can't get any more absurd! [part of the post has been removed] While anyone standing up to Washington takes guts, doing it in such a xenophobic and paranoid way is shameful. This is exactly what the kremlin feeds into Nashi's ideology, and it gives me shivers. It isn't just a western media conspiracy, i've seen video of nashi members reading off the ideology test to recruits (but the scariness of Nashi is another story). Like the Economist asserted several months ago, a united conspiracy-laced stand against the US is helping strengthen putin's party. But as long as Putin isn't as war belligerent as Bush, the world will be safe enough.
Sevodnya_Net November 29, 2007, 12:47: Dusan,
I don't think Berezovsky is relevant in this debate, except maybe as one of the "enemies of Russia" so beloved of the regime. And he hasn't paid me a penny yet, the rotter!

Philip:
Comparisons with European, esp British election systems are misleading. In particular the old British Liberal Party got 6 seats in the 1970 election, but this was an accident of the "first past the post" system and unlikely to have been taken as a model for any "threshold" system. By the way, I don't recall any party geting no seats on 25% of the vote in 1983(!)
The Duma has been re-modelled as a dumb legislature for an all-powerful executive: thresholds and party registration have been introduced to further this. (Can you imagine many other parliaments voting in such a registration system??!)
The actual election process may indeed be for the most part as fair as many in the west, but in the case of Russia at the moment that is where democracy starts - and ends, I'm afraid.
Now, where is Boris's phone number ... :-)
Dusan November 29, 2007, 11:05: People get payed to write against Russia and than of course Putin. I remeber the "fine" democracy before pr.Putin and those who led Russia are now "freedom fighters".
No thanks to that sort or Ruusia.
Is Berezovsky going to bring democracy?
Yeah right.
I repeat : people get payed to wright bad things about Russia on all forums, do not belive them.
palata6 November 28, 2007, 18:17: As obviously being an foreign bystander, the Russian politics looks sometimes somewhat "crazy" and "chaotic" to me... But that does Russian economy and society too! And how could Russia be anything else considering her history?
The US (and to some extent the EU) has political and (even more!) financial systems that has severe lethal cancer and is at the verge of total collapse...
In my mind there is no doubt "who is the healthy patient"! Sunday afternoon I will walk the Nevskij Prospect in full confidence that the Russian people made the right choice!
Who else can (or should?) decide Russia's future...? Some OSCE-clowns that last time came to the conclusion: "Yes, free -but slightly biased towards Putin"???

Democracy died the day the first politician was born... And this election
isn't about "democracy"! It is about "politics" and who will run Russia in the future. Putin has shown to be a strong leader with balls of steal. He will always be "fair" to Russia - but probably not always "fair" to the opposition...
It is a dirty game! -Free, but not fair!
Philip November 28, 2007, 17:48: Putin appears to be using his popularity to construct a particular model of a democractic system. I suspect that the voting process will be as fair in Russia as any Western Democracy. Having said that, during the Yeltsin era provincial governors were elected with suspiciously large majorities and the jury remains out until the election is over.

The process of party formation has clearly been manipulated to provide a stable conservative party in the centre with protest parties to the left and right so that the centre party will always be in government. "Fair Russia", the other party of Putin, seems to have been a failed attempt at a two party system.

The big issue in terms of voter numbers is the exclusion of Yabloko from election. The 7% election threshold seems to have been chosen to give Yabloko access to parliament while removing "sofa" parties. Most Anglo-Saxon electoral systems exclude small parties, even at levels of support in excess of 25% (1983 in the UK). Even continental europeans have thresholds. 7% is what Yabloko won last time so their task is not impossible. They have a specific demographic appeal. 7% is typical for Social Liberal parties across Europe. At this level, the UK Liberals used to get 6 MP's out of 630.

Exclusion of ideas is a bigger issue, although the press is not particularly controlled, mafia death threats apart. ORT and RTR TV coverage does seem manipulated with the Russian cultural sterotype of doing what everyone else does greatly encouraged. Well, the BBC in the UK is instructed to give a balanced view. It therefore gives airtime to idiots but nevertheless fails in balance because it excludes right wing racists (as already mentioned). In the US no one wants to upset the advertisers. Control of TV in Russia is controversial because of the manipulative role of the Oligarchs in the 1990's not just because of Putin now. Beresovsky appears to fund journalists to create anti Putin comment - a whole issue of the UK Spectator was recently devoted to anti Putin diatribes. All this said, the Russian TV set up is clearly biased so SPS in particular are not allowed to defend themselves.

You could see this as Putin aiming for perpetual power. You could also see this as Putin attempting to leave behind a stable political system that answers the Russian need for "strength" while allowing protest. Change of party does look rather hard without a communist/LDP/Yabloko alliance so there should be more opportunity to reject individual politicians.

A year ago Putin looked as though he was essentially a democrat trying to stabilise the system. Now he looks like a tolerant autocrat (but he is a long way short of say, Musharaf or Sadat or Pinochet, American hero's all). Yeltsin was a great liberator but no ruler. The Yeltsin years were a nightmare the return of which must be avoided. Enough is in place for the Russian people to signal what is bad for the country. The next requirement is not fine tuned proportional representation with "proportional" access to TV (proportional to votes - no one does that, proportional to money - US, proportional to ideas - BBC & other European TV in theory). The next step is transparency in government so that the actions of officials and elected representatives can be seen and held to account. Without a two party system this becomes critical. So does a voting sytem that puts individual politicians under more pressure than a party list. After that they need a system to enforce what is good for the country.
dan November 28, 2007, 15:28: of course it wont be fair.What about the reports of arrests of opposition.The articles in "MOSCOW TIMES" and I know a member of the Russian Armed Forces who has been told who to vote for and the consequences of him not doing as he is ordered.So open your eyes and get real
oleg November 28, 2007, 04:42: The election will be as fair and free as North Korea's Kim Jung ill No2.LoL!!