http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/02/AR2007120200791.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Russian Voters Turn Out for Putin and United Russia Win by President's Party Central to His Ambitions; Opposition Cries Foul By Peter Finn Washington Post Foreign Service Monday, December 3, 2007; A12 MOSCOW, Dec. 2 -- President Vladimir Putin secured a convincing personal victory in Russia's parliamentary election Sunday and with it, his allies say, the "moral authority" he had demanded to maintain political influence in the country after he steps down next year. The pro-Kremlin United Russia party, whose ticket was headed by Putin, won more than 60 percent of the vote, according to exit polls and early returns. Three other parties, two of them firmly in the Kremlin's pocket, received enough votes to cross the 7 percent threshold necessary to win seats in the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament. Opposition leaders called foul on a result they said followed a campaign discredited by the authorities' strong-arm tactics and by excessive bias in the mass media, particularly on the state-controlled television channels, the source of news for most Russians. Independent observers, including European lawmakers, will offer their verdicts on the election Monday, but United Russia immediately began to trumpet its victory. "Our result shows that voters gave their support not only to United Russia, but also to the course set by Vladimir Putin," Boris Gryzlov, speaker of the outgoing Duma and the head of United Russia, said on Russian television. "The elections were a referendum on Putin, and we can say he has won the first round." Although 60 percent represents a major victory, it was still less than some in United Russia had expected and may leave the party with only marginally more seats in the next 450-seat parliament, according to early projections. But that would still be enough to change the constitution at will. Seven parties failed to make the cutoff, and their percentage of the vote will be shared by the four winning parties in the final distribution of seats. Putin is not a member of United Russia, but he allowed the party to place him at the head of its electoral list. That decision transformed the vote into a plebiscite on his desire to wield influence over not just the next parliament but the next president. The presidential election will be held March 2, and the candidate Putin endorses is expected to sweep to victory. But the winner's power is likely to be constrained by Putin's enduring influence. Putin is constitutionally barred from serving three consecutive terms, but he could return in 2012, or sooner if the next president were to resign early. He has not said what role he will assume next year or whether he will seek to return to the presidency. The Communist Party came in second Sunday with about 11 percent of the vote, but party officials expressed dismay at the conduct of the campaign. "These are the dirtiest, most irresponsible elections," party leader Gennady Zyuganov said after voting in Moscow. "They have thought up at least 15 ways to entrap and betray voters." The Communists, charging widespread fraud, said they planned to contest the results in court, although the courts have no record of upsetting the Kremlin. The Liberal Democratic Party, led by ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, and Fair Russia, a party whose creation was approved by Putin, came in with about 10 percent and 7 percent of the vote respectively, according to the exit polls and early returns. Zhirinovsky, although well-known for his bluster, never seriously challenges the Kremlin. The success of his party also means that Andrei Lugovoy, who is accused of using a radioactive substance to kill former domestic intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko in London last year, will become a member of parliament. Lugovoy, whose extradition is being sought by Britain, was No. 2 on the Liberal Democratic Party's list, guaranteeing him a seat in parliament. Russian lawmakers are immune from prosecution, ruling out even the unlikely scenario of a Russia-based prosecution in the Litvinenko case. The Fair Russia party, which the Kremlin created as a left-wing but controlled alternative to United Russia, also secured enough votes to win representation in parliament. Election officials said about 60 percent of Russia's 109 million voters went to the polls, which exceeded the 56 percent turnout in the last parliamentary election four years ago. Small opposition parties, including the Union of Right Forces and Yabloko, were shut out of parliament for the second consecutive electoral cycle. Both parties complained bitterly that the authorities had disrupted their campaigns by breaking up rallies, seizing election literature and detaining their activists when they attempted to canvass voters. "I believe they were the most dishonest elections in the last 20 years," said Boris Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister and a leader of the Union of Right Forces, speaking to the Russian news agency Interfax. Other opposition groups, such as the Other Russia coalition headed by former chess champion and fierce Putin critic Garry Kasparov, could not participate in the contest. Under election laws passed by the last parliament, parties were subject to stringent new registration rules that prevented several of them from appearing on the ballot. "They are not just rigging the vote, they are raping the whole electoral system," said Kasparov, who told reporters that he spoiled his ballot at a Moscow polling station by not voting for anyone. "These elections are a reminder of Soviet elections, when there was no choice." Putin said he was in a "festive mood" after voting in Moscow with his wife, Lyudmila. "Thank God, the election campaign has concluded," Putin told reporters. "I am sure that the voters have made their choice, and they should only have voted for the party whose program seems convincing." The couple then went to eat lunch at a restaurant serving Siberian cuisine, and Putin asked the manager if he had a free table. "There is always a place for you," was the reply, echoing United Russia's sole theme in a campaign devoid of other issues. Buoyed by rising prosperity, Russians credit Putin with restoring the country's economy and its place on the world stage after the poverty and chaos of the 1990s. "I voted for United Russia. Who else?" Alexander Kotov, 47, a businessman, said after casting his ballot in western Moscow. "Our life has become better." His view was echoed by Irina Ivanova, a 63-year-old pensioner, who said she has seen the improvement in the life of her daughter, a teacher whose salary has increased. "I remember when she didn't get her salary for two months at a time," Ivanova said. But others said they were disillusioned by United Russia's dominance and the sense that the result was preordained. "I cannot call myself an active voter, but this time I decided that I must go and vote against United Russia," said Dmitry Fomichev, 37, a dentist who voted for Yabloko in southern Moscow. "What they have been doing is total arbitrariness. I know, of course, that they will win, and we cannot do much anyway. But at least I will be sure that I did not vote for them." Olga Vlasenkova, 62, a retired engineer, said she voted for the Communists for the first time in her life because they are the last opposition party standing. "During the Soviet times I was never a member of the Communist Party, and in the '90s I voted for liberals like Yabloko," she said. "I haven't changed my ideas or values, but it seems to me the Communists are the only real force who can oppose United Russia."
