Russia Votes After Controversial Campaign

Acidic Rhetoric Against West Primes Russians For Parliamentary Elections

(AP)  Russians voted Sunday in a parliamentary election where the only question is whether President Vladimir Putin's party will win merely a strong majority of seats or a crushing share.

The election follows months of increasingly acidic rhetoric against the West and efforts — by law and by truncheon — to stifle opponents.

A huge win for Putin's United Russia party could pave the way for him to stay at the country's helm once his presidential term expires in the spring. The party casts the election as essentially a referendum on Putin's nearly eight years in office. Many of its campaign banners that festoon the capital read "Moscow is voting for Putin."

Putin is constitutionally prohibited from running for a third consecutive term as president in March. But he clearly wants to keep his hand on the helm in Russia, and has raised the prospect of becoming prime minister; many supporters have suggested his becoming a "national leader," though what duties and powers that would entail are unclear.

He has said that a strong showing for the party Sunday would give him the moral right to ensure that politicians continue his policies. Recent opinion polls suggest the party could win up to 80 percent of seats.

The dominance of United Russia provoked a fatalistic attitude in some voters.

"I think the result was pretty much planned in advance. I don't know who I'll vote for; I'll decide when I get to the booth," said Ivan Kudrashov, in his 20s, as he entered Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral for Sunday Mass.

The vote is the first national ballot under new election laws that have been widely criticized as marginalizing opposition forces. All the seats will be awarded proportionately to how much of the vote a party receives; in previous elections, half the seats were chosen among candidates contesting a specific district, which allowed a few mavericks to get in.

The new laws also say a party must receive at least 7 percent of the national vote to get any seats — up from the previous 5 percent. A poll by the All-Russia Public Opinion Research Center in mid-November showed the Communists and two other parties hovering near the cutoff point.

Opposition parties, meanwhile, claim authorities have confiscated campaign materials and that the managers of halls have refused to rent them out for opposition meetings. Police have violently broken up opposition rallies — most recently in Moscow and St. Petersburg last weekend — and national television gives the parties hardly any coverage.

Garry Kasparov, the former world chess champion who has become one of the most prominent opposition leaders, called the election a "farce" Friday, a day after being released from jail following his arrest in the weekend protests.

In contrast to the near invisibility of the opposition on television, Putin's speeches to supporters have been broadcast in full and repeated throughout evening newscasts.

Sunday's vote "meets none of the criteria of a free, fair and democratic election. In effect, it is not even an election," Andrei Illarionov, a former adviser to Putin, wrote in a commentary for the Cato Institute think-tank.

Under Putin, once-struggling Russia has become inundated with oil revenue, a nascent middle-class is developing and the war against separatists in Chechnya has faded into sporadic, small clashes. Russia's newly assertive military policy and inclination to taunt and criticize the West appeals strongly to Russians who suffered physically and emotionally in the early post-Soviet years.

"We believe in Putin and we love Putin dearly," said Tamara Posekhova, a 60ish Mass-goer at the Moscow cathedral. "We want him to go on working for the country."

But with the competition stifled and the election result seen as a foregone conclusion, many of the 107 million eligible to vote could find apathy and inertia weakening any desire to brave winter weather to cast ballots.

Authorities throughout Russia's 11 time zones appeared determined to ensure a sizable turnout, through pressure, persuasion and even presents. In Novorossiisk, voters had a chance to win a car, laptop computers and cellular phones, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. Another region promised new housing will be built in whichever village shows the most "mature" turnout.

Teachers, doctors and other workers have complained that their bosses are ordering them to vote — usually with the implication that they should vote for United Russia.

With Russia showing an increasingly assertive military policy and with foreign hunger growing for Russia's oil, gas and minerals, the election is of strong interest overseas. But international organizations are not able to watch as closely as they had hoped.

The elections-monitoring arm of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, regarded in the West as the most authoritative assessor of whether an election is fair, canceled plans to send observers. It said Russia had delayed granting visas for so long that the organization would be unable to conduct a meaningful assessment of election preparations.

Russia has criticized monitoring by the OSCE elsewhere in the former Soviet Union as supporting protests that forced leadership changes, but it denied that it was impeding operations in Russia. Putin claimed the pullout was initiated by the United States in an effort to discredit the elections and his government.

A total of about 300 observers from various international organizations were scheduled to monitor the voting.

Disdain for the West has been one of the dominating themes of the election. Putin called his opponents "foreign-fed jackals" last month and warned that Russia will not tolerate meddling from abroad.

[tbweb]

I am glad the elections seem to be going on just fine and the people get to vote. I was there on 3rd July 1966 for the first election ever and there weren''''t many tourists--too many thought there would be riots. Now it is quite expensive to visit there.
If Putin''''s party wins there, and Chavez wins down south, I will be quite satisfied. Nobody in this country has any business prompting other nations whom to vote for. Perhaps if we had a different Administration here, others would pay a bit of attention to being our friends.

Posted by Vet1971 at 08:30 PM : Dec 02, 2007,,,

There is a difference between Voting to give the appearance of fair Elections which is nothing but window dressing for the outside World, and Voting for "real" where a nation has genuine Elections, where real Candidates are actually selected based on a fair Vote. Every nation puts their noses in other nations business, this phenomenon is not unique or restricted to just the U.S., all nations engage in it. The U.S. just appears to do it more than others because you must remember in the U.S. we enjoy Freedom, and Freedom of Speech and Expression! Many Citizens in many nations do not enjoy Freedom of Speech and can not speak out, so we Americans think that means everything is fine, but the real truth is speaking out in many nations will get you killed! Americans are unique, Americans speak up and Americans speak out and nothing or no one is exempt!

[Con Mohrat]

I am glad the elections seem to be going on just fine and the people get to vote. I was there on 3rd July 1966 for the first election ever and there weren''t many tourists--too many thought there would be riots. Now it is quite expensive to visit there.
If Putin''s party wins there, and Chavez wins down south, I will be quite satisfied. Nobody in this country has any business prompting other nations whom to vote for. Perhaps if we had a different Administration here, others would pay a bit of attention to being our friends.

[tbweb]

The Russians, quite sensibly, support a man who puts Russia first--Vladimir Putin. Good for them!

Posted by Prinzowhales at 10:43 AM : Dec 02, 2007,,,

Putin has been good for Russia up to a point, windfall Oil and Natural Gas revenues and a little luck had some say in Putin''s success, but this does not mean others can''t be good for Russia as well. Russia has millions of citizens and I''m sure rich in other potentially great leaders as well, and it would be nice to hear from them if the opposition was allowed to speak!

[prinzowhales]

The Russians, quite sensibly, support a man who puts Russia first--Vladimir Putin. Good for them!
For some of the reasons why:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18817.htm

Americans--the idiots who elected George W. Bush twice--have seen their dollar tank, their banking system in crisis, their earnings stagnate, their debt soaring as the Israel-firster/America-last clique in charge in Washington serves the interest of the Zionists with American blood and American treasure...and won''t even take its foreign aid in dollars but insists on euros...

Americans will go the polls next year and its looks like they are going to compound their errors by electing another War Pig, Israel-first president as the candidates of that sick and evil persuasion have a commanding lead in the polls in both parties.

[amazedd]

When was the last time Russia had a democracy? Words don%u2019t come easy, you know? Please have some patience.
The very concept of Popular Sovereignty has to resinate throughout the citizenry, before Universal Suffrage can be wholly grasped. First one party then many others.

[tbweb]

I would love to see one of those Russian Election Ballots. Is any other Candidate on the Ballot besides Putin? I haven''t heard of any, is anyone even running against Putin? I bet Putin''s name is on the Russian Ballot in 40 point font, bold and his opposition''s is in 8 point font in invisible ink! LOL

[tbweb]

Putin''''s opposition is relatively incompetent.

Posted by glaswolf at 01:55 AM : Dec 02, 2007,,,

The real truth is Putin''s opposition is suppressed, no one hears from them, so we don''t know if they are incompetent or not! How can we know if the opposition is in jail and not allowed to speak?

[tbweb]

Anyone" cannot just walk into these Russian nuclear sites with impunity. It just can''''t happen and who ever you believe is lying to you.

Posted by glaswolf at 01:48 AM : Dec 02, 2007,,,

60 Minutes did a Special Report and followed Senator Lugar on a trip to Moscow. With the camera''s rolling "LIVE" Senator Lugar visited many of these left over nuclear sites from the old Soviet Union. What he found was nuclear sites protected by only 1 guard, 1 sentry at the main chained gate. In some cases the gates were folding over, not even standing up! Anyone with any reasonable skill could easily enter these sites undetected by this lonely guard! I saw it with my own eyes, even Senator Lugar could not believe the lack of security at these old Russian nuclear sites, the Russians claimed at the time they didn''t have the funds to properly protect and secure them so the U.S. stepped in and footed the Bill citing U.S. National Security interest. I don''t Post garbage!

[glaswolf]

tbweb at 10:44 PM: Putin''s opposition is relatively incompetent. It is obvious when we listen them. Don''t ask the Russian''s to be stupid just because our judeo christian right is wedged firmly under the left side of the IQ bell shaped curves. About that 7% rule, some of our districts use a roughly 13% rule if I am not mistaken. Knee jerk reactionarism is anti American, for you degrade the world''s view of our intellectual capability. Our enemies are emboldened by the apparent stupidity of the judeo christian right in the US, their stupidity and ignorance verges on treason.

[glaswolf]

tbweb at 09:56 PM: "anyone can wonder into!" Wonder into is about all they can do, because if they wandered into any nuclear power plant they would probably be shot. You obviously have no idea of the type of security involved. Insiders betraying nation and state just like Israeli''s Pollard spyed and betrayed the United States are the threat. Anyone? you either stop smoking tobacco, drinking alcohol or going to church because you intuition is clearly way out of line with reality. Do you know that if we have internal upheaval and your "anyone" tries to wander onto an American military base your "anyone" will be shot ... shoot to kill? "Anyone" cannot just walk into these Russian nuclear sites with impunity. It just can''t happen and who ever you believe is lying to you. Even President Bush would disagree with you, no matter how deficient his Yale education might be, compared to our Western institutions of actual learning of course. Rove would probably laugh at you for such an ignorant and foolish belief. Maybe you should convert to Islam or get a little more realistic.

[tbweb]

The stronger Russia gets, more enemies its has. It was always this way. All the history. Noone needs powerful Russia. So Putin this hard time just tries to keep it going well by all possible ways. Too many enemies and parties that don%u2019t wanna see Russia strong and prosperous.

Posted by ronsib at 11:53 PM : Dec 01, 2007,,,

The only nation that has to fear a strong Russia is China! Russia needed China when it was poor and weak like Russia needed the U.S. and the West. Soon China will get stabbed in the back too when Russia no longer needs them!

[ilyasib]

The stronger Russia gets, more enemies its has. It was always this way. All the history. Noone needs powerful Russia. So Putin this hard time just tries to keep it going well by all possible ways. Too many enemies and parties that don%u2019t wanna see Russia strong and prosperous.

[tbweb]

Posted by mcv57 at 11:24 PM : Dec 01, 2007,,,
Posted by ronsib at 11:12 PM : Dec 01, 2007,,,

I always liked Russian Pres. Putin and always Posted nice remarks about him in the past, but recently I have changed my opinion about him, Putin now seems like a two faced back stabber to me, catering to the old guard in the Russian military after at first supporting true Democracy.

[mcv57]

tbweb,
This country is no better, Bushman is giving lessons on national totalitrian ambush procedures (for presidents only). Try marching around some of these separatist states (Georgia, Nevada, Missouri). If you don''t have permission, you go to jail.

[ilyasib]

Ok. There are some special rules and regulations regarding marches and demonstrations in most of countries. There are in US and there are in Russia. When some of these young guys try to break these rules and provoke the police to take force actions, there are arrests made. Thats how it works in US and thats how it works in Russia. Kasparov was arrested because he provoked police to use force and detention to him. Kasparov and his %u201Cguys%u201D always tried to do that kind of provocative actions cause they know that Russian authorities will be accused of anti-democratic standards right away.

[tbweb]

I have been in Russia lately and you know, I get surprised when I read all this *** about the country. It looks like theres more freedom and fun over there then anywhere else.

Posted by ronsib at 10:32 PM : Dec 01, 2007,,,

When the Political opposition is not allowed to gather and campaign freely, is it any wonder that Kasparov only has a small percentage of support? As soon as any opposition Political posters are put up they are immediately ripped down! The Kremlin also controls the media, if the opposition can''t get its message out and talk to the Russian people and compete fairly, is it any wonder the opposition is doing so badly, you call that free?

[ilyasib]

Only 1 % of population supports Kasparov and his %u201Cguys%u201D. This guys are sponsored by corrupted politicians and businessmen who now live outside Russia. Because these guys really need some Russian money, and they use the last attempt to get some power back. Putin is a great person, he did so much for the country for the last years. And people support him a lot.
I have been in Russia lately and you know, I get surprised when I read all this *** about the country. It looks like theres more freedom and fun over there then anywhere else.

[tbweb]

Posted by glaswolf at 09:34 PM : Dec 01, 2007,,,

Putin is full of do-do! Russia wants to play it both ways. Currently the U.S. is footing the Bill in safeguarding, securing and dismantling several Russian nuclear sites left over from the old Soviet Union which in most cases are only guarded by chained fences anyone can wonder into! Its also been reported a lot of this nuclear material is missing and unaccounted for, I suggest with Russia''s new found Oil wealth and Natural Gas revenues, Russia foot its own nuclear safeguard and cleanup Bill and refund the money the U.S. has already invested in this effort. In addition, Russia should suspend military spending until it cleans up the massive Oil spill recently in the Black Sea which is "really" black now and also make sure Chernoble is secure as well, rumor has it Chernoble is leaking again! Russia wants it both ways!

[glaswolf]

venik4 is correct. I watched an interview with Kasparov and he made no insightful observations, offering no view of ordering future Russian evolution. Name calling and vitriol is all I witnessed, he is a chess player and definitedly not philosophically holistic enough to represent Russia''s Office of The President. Putin is right to be concerned with externally allied oligarchs trying to establish and reestablish their control of Russia and her allies. Kaspova refered to a farce with no mention of water boarding, so we know that Putin is no Romney ... waterboarding is not something Putin''s people are countenance anyone. Remember Russia is extensive with 100 federated nations, Putin is not running Russia my himself ... actually, he''s a pretty normal hunky dory guy, much maligned in the West by folks seeking to undermine AMerica''s alliances and cooperations with these 100 nations united under the Russia banner of red, white and blue.

[tbweb]

Kasparov is not a presidential contender and even if he was, he would have still been irrelevant.

Posted by venik4 at 07:45 PM : Dec 01, 2007,,,

If Kasparov is so irrelevant why is there a need to lock him up in Jail? Someone fears him! Did you read Kasparov''s new book? I did! In case you missed it the ISBN is 1-59691-387-8. He makes the case against Putin very clearly. FREE KASPAROV!! FREE GARY NOW!!