The Kremlin have their own name for Russian democracy, they call it: "Sovereign Democracy." However It is more about absolute sovereignty than any notion of democracy.
In the past 10 years there has been a notorious campaign to consolidate power and systematically dismantle democratic institutions in Russia. All private television channels have been taken over by the government or closed. Press censorship is rigorous and critical voices are dealt with, making it impossible for political opponents to operate in a climate of continual harassment.
Five years ago President Vladimir Putin made some dramatic changes to Russian electoral law. First, governors of Russia's 89 regions who had until then been elected by popular vote, are appointed by the president. The governors, or local presidents in the case of 21 ethnic republics, have extensive powers, and Moscow's appointments give the Kremlin complete control and loyalty across the vast country.
Secondly, the threshold for political parties to be represented in the Russian parliament, the Duma, was increased from 5 to 7 per cent. Given the press censorship and all other restrictions on political opponents, it is practically impossible for any liberal opposition to achieve this threshold and be represented in parliament.
The obvious result is that Vladimir Putin's party, United Russia has 315 of the 450 seats in the Duma which works out at 70 per cent, easily enough to change the Russian Constitution. The other parties represented are the Communists with 57 seats, The Liberal Democratic Party have 40 seats and Justice Russia 38 seats. However the reality is that the latter two do not represent the opposition but rather passive support for United Russia. The Liberal Democratic Party in Russia is neither liberal nor democratic- instead it is nationalistic in the extreme and headed up by Vladimir Zhirinovsky. One of his party comrades in the Duma is Andrei Lugovoi, wanted by the British authorities for the murder of dissident Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006.
With such total control one should imagine that vote-rigging would be unnecessary. However corruption is very much alive and kicking in Russian elections. There was some serious criticism after the last Duma election in 2007 by the UN, the OSCE and the real political Russian opposition. Gary Kasparov, the famous world chess champion and political activist said: "These elections were the most unfair and dirtiest in the whole history of modern Russia.
In Chechnya, United Russia and its leader Vladimir Putin represents the total destruction of democratic institutions where people can have their voice represented. The Republic has seen the loss of 200.000 civilians - enormous trauma and suffering to the entire population. The election in 2007 was boycotted by the Chechen population yet the official result showed a turnout of 99 per cent - and 99 per cent of the votes came in for: United Russia. That is Sovereign Democracy!
Ivar Amundsen
Director, Chechnya Peace Forum |
