Russian Parliamentary Vote Called Unfair by European Monitors

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MOSCOW — Russia’s parliamentary elections, which the pro-Kremlin United Russia Party won handsomely, were “not fair” and failed to meet international democratic standards, according to observers from two leading European organizations. They issued a scathing assessment yesterday that accused the authorities here of “the merging of the state and a political party.”

The election campaign “took place in an atmosphere which seriously limited political competition and with frequent abuse of administrative resources, press coverage strongly in favor of the ruling party, and an election code whose cumulative effect hindered political pluralism,” a joint statement by the parliamentary assemblies of the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said. “The merging of the state and a political party is an abuse of power and a clear violation of international commitments and standards.”

Russia is a member of both the Council of Europe and the OSCE, each of which promotes democracy and human rights across the continent.

The assessment is likely to widen the growing rift between Russia and the West across a host of issues. Officials here condemned it as politically motivated.

“It is a political order,” a member of Russia’s Central Election Commission, Igor Borisov, said, speaking to the news agency Interfax about the observers’ statements. “A political expediency dictated from overseas prevailed over the principles of objective monitoring which must be carried out by international observers.” The election campaign, including a prominent speech by President Putin, was marked by accusations that the West, employing local puppets, was plotting to undermine the legitimacy of the vote in an effort to destabilize Russia. Such charges are unlikely to abate with a presidential campaign about to begin here.

The United Russia Party, whose ticket was headed by Mr. Putin, won more than 64% of the vote, according to nearly complete tallies by the Central Election Commission. Three other parties will join United Russia in the next parliament: the Communist Party and two others, the Liberal Democratic Party, and Fair Russia, which toe the Kremlin’s line.

United Russia is projected to have 315 seats in the 450-member State Duma, the lower house of Parliament. That is enough seats to change the constitution, including amending provisions to allow Mr. Putin to remain in power beyond the current limit of two consecutive terms. Mr. Putin, speaking at a factory in the Moscow suburbs yesterday, said he was pleased with the results.

“This is an obvious success and a good victory,” he said. “It’s now clear to me that Russians will never allow their country to develop along the destructive path seen in some other countries of the former Soviet Union. It’s a good example and a good indication of Russia’s internal political stability.”

But in a series of blunt assessments, Western observers said stability has been achieved at the cost of political pluralism and competition.

“Measured by our standards, this wasn’t a free, fair and democratic election,” a spokesman for the German government, Thomas Steg, told a news conference yesterday in Berlin. The observers also expressed astonishment that a sitting president headed a party list in a parliamentary election, calling it “unprecedented.”

[Meanwhile, Bloomberg News is reporting that British prosecutors will not drop charges against Andrei Lugovoi for the radiation murder of Alexander Litvinenko following the former Russian intelligence agent’s election as a member of Parliament.

“As far as we are concerned this changes nothing,” the British Embassy in Moscow said in a statement read by telephone yesterday. “Lugovoi remains wanted in the U.K. in connection with the murder of Alexander Litvinenko.” Litvinenko, a critic of Mr. Putin who went into exile in London and became a British citizen, died last November after being poisoned with radioactive polonium-210. British prosecutors asked Russia in May to extradite Mr. Lugovoi to face trial for the murder. Russia refused, citing a constitutional ban on extradition.

Mr. Lugovoi campaigned for the State Duma as the no. 2 in Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. The LDPR had 8.2% with 98% of the vote counted, ensuring it will clear the 7% barrier for representation in the Duma. Lawmakers enjoy legal immunity in Russia. Mr. Lugovoi is not required to take up his seat.]


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