Putin Touts Dubious Election Romp

Observers Call Vote Unfair, Undemocratic; Putin Says It's A "Sign Of Trust"

(AP)  Foreign observers and Russian opposition groups accused authorities Monday of manipulating a sweeping election victory for the party of President Vladimir Putin, who hailed the results as a validation of his leadership.

With ballots from nearly 98 percent of precincts counted, Putin's United Russia party was leading with 64.1 percent of the vote, the Central Election Commission said - giving it 70 percent of the seats in parliament.

The Communists trailed with just 11.6 percent of the vote, with Kremlin-allied parties claiming the rest of Sunday's vote.

The Communists, Liberals and foreign observers criticized the vote as unfair. Opposition leader Garry Kasparov, the ex-chess champion, denounced the election as "the most unfair and dirtiest in the whole history of modern Russia."

But Putin and his allies praised the result as an overwhelming endorsement of his leadership and policies.

"Of course it's a sign of trust," Putin said in televised remarks. "Russians will never allow the nation to take a destructive path, as happened in some other ex-Soviet nations."

The election followed a tense Kremlin campaign that relied in part on persuasion and intimidation to ensure a rout for United Russia and the president, who has used Russia's energy riches in an effort to restore Moscow's influence on the global stage.

Putin is expected to claim the victory gives him the mandate to remain Russia's de facto leader even after he steps down as president in May, as required by the constitution.

It was "not a fair election," said Goran Lennmarker, president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

The election monitoring arm of the OSCE - regarded in the West as the most authoritative election monitor - did not send observers, saying Russia delayed granting visas for so long that the organization would have been unable to meaningfully assess election preparations.

Luc van den Brande, head of a delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, said Russian authorities exerted the "overwhelming influence of the president's office and the president" on the campaign, skewing its outcome.

In Berlin, government spokesman Thomas Steg said Germany considered Russia's vote neither fair nor free, adding that the country cannot be considered a democracy. The United States and Britain urged Russian authorities to probe alleged voting irregularities.

"In the run-up to election day, we expressed our concern regarding the use of state administrative resources in support of United Russia, the bias of the state-owned or -influenced media in favor of United Russia, intimidation of political opposition, and the lack of equal opportunity encountered by opposition candidates and parties," said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council.

Kimmo Kiljunen, vice president of the OSCE's Parliamentary Assembly, called the elections "strange" and "problematic," citing reports of harassment of parties and confiscation of election materials.

"These elections, from my point of view, were done in a Russian way," he said. "I mean that there was the strange situation that the executive branch almost chose the legislative branch. It is supposed to be the other way round."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, however, called the vote free and fair. Russia is "a developing democracy that had a free and fair election," he told foreign journalists.

Turnout was about 63 percent, up from 56 percent in the 2003 parliamentary elections.

The Kremlin portrayed the election as a plebiscite on Putin's nearly eight years as president. Putin is widely popular, in part because of Russia's oil-fueled economic boom and his ambition to revive Russia's status as a great power.

United Russia said it will name its presidential candidate at its congress set for Dec. 17 - most likely a figurehead who stands to be overshadowed by Putin.

Putin is prohibited from running for a third consecutive term but clearly wants to remain in power even though he has ruled out changing the constitution to allow him to run for another term as president.

A movement has sprung up in recent weeks to urge him to become a "national leader," though it's not clear what that would mean.

United Russia's victory would give it 315 seats in Russia's 450-seat State Duma, election officials said. The Communists would have just over 50 seats.

Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov called the election "the most irresponsible and dirty" in the post-Soviet era and party officials vowed to challenge the results.

Two other pro-Kremlin parties - the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party and the populist Just Russia - also made it into parliament.

No other parties passed the 7 percent threshold for gaining seats in the legislature. Both opposition liberal parties, Yabloko and the Union of Right Forces, were shut out.

Anatoly Chubais, head of Russia's electricity monopoly and a leader of the Union of Right Forces, called the vote a "disgusting" repeat of Soviet practices.

"United Russia is becoming monopolist and restoring a Soviet spirit and Soviet mentality," he said in a statement.

Many voters said they were pressured to cast ballots for United Russia, and election monitoring watchdogs said voters reported that their ballots already were filled out for United Russia. In Chechnya, where turnout was over 99 percent, witnesses reported seeing election authorities filling out and casting ballots.

European election monitors criticized changes in Russian election law that restricts voters to choosing only for a party, not candidates, and for making it more difficult for smaller parties to make it into parliament.

In previous elections, half the seats were chosen among candidates contesting a specific district, allowing a few mavericks to get in.

[Con Mohrat]

Prinzowhales, Thank you. You have access to fine sites.
If people have not realised it, since our people in government have been seriously on the lookout for a permanent replacement enemy after the demise of the USSR, and the mountains of the Hindu Kush in Afghanistan are not it, they have, First), transferred the hatred towards the Soviet Union to any duly elected government in Russia that is not a
Blair-style lapdog, and Second), to use Bush''s word, begin a Christian "CRUSADE" against muslim nations, threatening Syria and Iran, and if, just if, they happened to succeed, take Kuwai and Saudi Arabia, the real end targets.
Consider today''s news. Instead of being apologetic about accusing Iran who stopped weapons work in 2003, the Axis of Arrogance, Bush-Rice-Cheney say "Nothing has changed." And the people of his party sound off in resounding agreement. The people, that is, who have never been in the military service, and have no close relatives as canon fodder.

[prinzowhales]

Here is a link to an article by Mike Whitney regarding the Neo-Con murderers that Kasparov is in bed with...including the Israeli spy and associate of the thieving dog ''Lord'' Conrad Black, Richard Pearle.
Note that the terrorist and fugitive Boris Berezovsky is holded up in Britain near the feet of his New World Order masters in the City.

http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=7622

[prinzowhales]

Vet1971--The American MSM marches in virtual lockstep to the commands of the Establishment...every now and then they slip up and let real news out...every now and then there is a serious tiff and there is a cat fight. They''ve been virtually united in their disparagement of Castro, Chavez and now Putin...each of whom stepped on the economic interests of Wall Street, State Street and the City.

The NEW YORK TIMES is a study in itself of duplicity and treachery on behalf of the ruling elite--from its denial of the famine in the Ukraine by its Stalinist Moscow correspondent Walter Duranty--who won a Pulitzer for his efforts--to the Iraqi WMD stories... this against an ongoing transfer of Western technology to the Soviets as documented by the Hoover Institute''s Anthony Sutton.

My answer to the American media is to simply not support any cable or satellite company that carries their signal--I cancelled DISH and depend solely on alternative and free media.

BBC was recently called to account for the job they did on the 9-11 Truthers...as with the JFK assassination, they won''t let the truth out of the bag and are content to set up straw dogs and congratulate themselves for knocking them down. BBC has yet to address the full story of 7/7 and I think they are still under a states secrets gag on the MI-5''s part in the deadly bombing campaign that their agents were, for the most part responsible for orchestrating.

[Con Mohrat]

The International Banker controlled media in America is trying to paint Putin in a bad light because he stood up for Russia against Boris Berezovski and the oligarchs who pillaged Russia...
Posted by Prinzowhales
~~~~~
I read the article. It is like one from ATIMES.COM articles which are derived by different experts who have knowledge of subject matter. Compare that to some papers where columnist staff are paid to write columns of 3000 words twice a week on subjects they know little about, like the NYTimes. The BBC is OK, but they have a serious mental block when writing about the Middle East due to their complicity in the genocides brought about by their past and present involvements from Iraq to Palestine.
We have a news channel I watched daily or years, with actual newscasts from many countries for half or one hour daily, some twice, some in English.
I saw Putin on RadioTelevision Russi arriving at different conferences, sit on a nice chair, unbutton his jacket, and talk to various people, sometimes more than once daily, in Moscow and other cities. He seemed to be interested in governing, not cutting brush, golfing or fishing or campaigning.
I have not seen our leaders do anything like it.
America has been very seriously looking for a permanent enemy since the collapse of the USSR, just to show their weapons prowess, one that has driven them seriously into debt, and lead to the collapse of the Army of One. Watch Bush whine again today for money for endless war.

[prinzowhales]

The International Banker controlled media in America is trying to paint Putin in a bad light because he stood up for Russia against Boris Berezovski and the oligarchs who pillaged Russia and then got their comeupance from President Putin.

CBS--once ran by Skull & Bones Prescott Bush, grandfather of the current resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue--has taken the lead in trying to turn Americans against Russia. Note this critique of an article by their propagandist Amsterdam by Justin Raimondo.

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=11996

[tbweb]

Posted by brianbwb at 02:27 AM : Dec 04, 2007,,,

Nobody wants to see Russia out of control, Russia has too many nuclear weapons, but Russia needs to find the proper balance, Pres. Putin is coming across as a control freak, he needs to lighten up and trust real Democracy! Putin is a Scorpio, Scorpio''s are control freaks by nature, Ahmadinejad is a Scorpio too and Hugo Chavez is a Leo, loves attention and the World Stage! The election loss crushed him but he is hiding it well, must keep up appearances!

[tbweb]

Re believing CNN and most domestic media: I have reservations about that. They don''''t seem free to report news, but almost daily parrot the Administration views.
There are many news sources as well as commentary like ATIMES.COM on the internet, and many in English too, which have news never seen here.

Posted by Vet1971 at 02:07 AM : Dec 04, 2007,,,

I believe CNN in this case because the video cameras were rolling the entire time and you could see the opposition being gathered up and thrown in Police vehicles with your own eyes, cameras don''t lie, maybe the written press, but a picture is worth a thousand words!

[brianbwb-2009]

Posted by tbweb and Posted by Vet1971

I meet many Russians here in Asia, and they will say that while their individual situation improved because of the changes, there are far more whose lives got worse.

A common joke goes "under communism, the stores had no bread, only the few inner party members could get it, now the stores are full of bread, but no one can afford it, only the few rich people can afford it".

At any rate, no matter how one seet the situation, one problem I see is with the headline of this story. The election is judged as dubious by the writer, and this judgment is put out as news, rather than as an editorial.

"Dubious" is not fact, only a comment reflecting the reporter''s doubt, and such bias should not be allowed to insinuate itself into a story presented as news.

This tendency to arrogantly state opinion as fact has killed 4,000 US soldiers and hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis lately, and is fueling calls to spread death, because of opinions and for no real reason, to Iran, Pakistan, Venezuela, and other places around the world.

[Con Mohrat]

tbweb wrote:
CNN did a Special on Russia''''s Putin and the recent election, if you saw it you would not be writing in such a supportive role...
~~~~~~~~
You are right about my opinion of Putin''s Russia.
I was there for Russia''s very first election July 3, 1966, when tourists kept away thinking there would be riots. It was a poor country compared to today. Women lined up outside the square near the Cosmonaut museum, and at other open places, selling many of their possessions because of inflation--cats, caged birds, coats, etc etc. It was a sad scene, just as if we had no Social Security and our elderly had to sell all they owned just to eat and keep warm. Probably not so today. That is why I am glad there is no rip-off artist in charge in Russia, as in so many other nations.
Re believing CNN and most domestic media: I have reservations about that. They don''t seem free to report news, but almost daily parrot the Administration views.
There are many news sources as well as commentary like ATIMES.COM on the internet, and many in English too, which have news never seen here.

[mediapreachr]

You can bet your *** that only the pensioners voted.The other votes were either discarded or annulled.Just mention the name russia and nobody is surprised anymore.

[tbweb]

I visited Russia and you know what they talk politics among themselves something they couldn''''t do when there was a Soviet Union.

Maybe many of the citizens are happy with what they got and the old propaganda machine is being used again.

Posted by antoniof123 at 04:38 PM : Dec 03, 2007,,,

I agree, Russia is much better than it was under the Soviet Union, many Russians are very happy with their current situation and doing very well and as CNN pointed out, when you have no food in the stores and no one has any money the current situation looks likes paradise! But soon the Russians will settle into their new situation and start to look around beyond the benefits and look at the real cost, once the newness wears off as it always does lets see if the Russian citizens start to care about 278 murdered Journalist who tried to keep them informed but were silenced, or care about Candidates who are not allowed to run for public office and be on ballots unless the Kremlin approves first, for example Kasparov was denied as were many others who opposed Putin, not even allowed to compete in elections at all. So again, who was the opposition? This reminds me of the logic used in the Iraq War, thousands being killed each month on all sides, but now that only hundreds are being killed every month the situation is a success, as if hundreds being killed each month is okay and acceptable when in reality only one being killed each month is too many!

[sgtrds]

"Observers Call Vote Unfair, Undemocratic; Putin Says It''s A "Sign Of Trust"

Sounds like the last two American national elections...........

[valentin73]

DEMOCRACY IS NOT A FORM OF GOVERNMENT WHICH IS BORN OVERNIGHT. This only verifies that Russia still has plenty of reconstruction of government before becoming a democratic nation. NOT ALL COUNTRIES ARE CREATED EQUAL. The wheels of democracy turn very slowly in some countries. We must respect that idealogy, wheather we like it or not. Russia has come a long way since the time of the Soviet Government.

[denn034]

Kudos for the "Dubious" comment, CBS.

[antoniof123]

I visited Russia and you know what they talk politics among themselves something they couldn''t do when there was a Soviet Union.

Maybe many of the citizens are happy with what they got and the old propaganda machine is being used again.

[tbweb]

Nobody likes an empty victory with a phony mandate!
Posted by tbweb
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am sure there are many who do. All those who voted for that victory--over 64 percent of them.
Funny that! The same people who criticize that vote are not critizing the Venezuela vote.

Posted by Vet1971 at 04:18 PM : Dec 03, 2007,,,

CNN did a Special on Russia''s Putin and the recent election, if you saw it you would not be writing in such a supportive role, leading up to the elections 278 Journalist murdered, including Russia''s most famous and absolutely no opposition at all, in fact CNN showed the opposition going to register as Candidates and if the Kremlin did not approve in advance no Candidate could be on the ballot! You have no idea what you''re supporting trust me!

[Con Mohrat]

Nobody likes an empty victory with a phony mandate!
Posted by tbweb
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am sure there are many who do. All those who voted for that victory--over 64 percent of them.
Funny that! The same people who criticize that vote are not critizing the Venezuela vote.

[Con Mohrat]

If the Administration is frustrated with the election results, they should have made sure no one copied the Florida voting machines and tactics.

[antoniof123]

I got a great idea leave them alone neo cons you have done enough damage to the world.

[tbweb]

President Vladimir Putin enjoys the victory of United Russia Party but is still smart enough to know it would have been better if was accepted World Wide and not just Russia wide "only". Nobody likes an empty victory with a phony mandate!