Putin Party Sweeps Russian Election That OSCE Calls "Not Fair"

[Bicoastal]

Source: Bloomberg.com

Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Vladimir Putin's party swept a parliamentary election that European observers said was "not fair,'' giving the president the mandate he sought to keep guiding Russia after he leaves office next year.

(snip)

The vote "took place in an atmosphere which seriously limited political competition and with frequent abuse of administrative resources, media coverage strongly in favor of the ruling party and an election code whose cumulative effect hindered political pluralism,'' the report by Western observers said. "There was not a level political playing field in Russia in 2007.''

The 70-strong Western observer mission was particularly critical of Putin throwing his weight, and the apparatus of the state, behind United Russia. "The merging of the state and a political party is an abuse of power and a clear violation of international commitments and standards,'' the statement said.

It also noted "persistent reports of harassment of opposition candidates, detentions, confiscation of election material, threats against voters and allegations of the potential misuse of absentee certificates.''

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aH9QGe78Ti9I&refer=home

---

Well, this accusation of foul play isn't going to change anything, is it? Then again, I wonder what would've happened if we'd been observed by the OSCE in 2000 and 2004...

[sss1977]

1. How interesting...

Elections that don't turn out the way we want (Russia) must involve some kind of foul play.

Elections that do turn out the way we want (Venezuela) show the true voice of the people.

Sounds like par for the course.

[Bicoastal]

2. Par for the course for Putin, you mean...

...I don't know about you, but I don't trust ol' Vladimir any farther than I can throw him out of power.

Sounds like Europe didn't like the way this turned out either...

[dantyrant]

3. There's no shortage of hypocrisy to go around.

c/o Mike Whitney:

In most articles, Putin is disparaged as “anti democratic”; a charge that is never leveled at the Saudi Royal family even though women are forbidden to drive, they must by fully-covered at all times, and can be stoned to death if they are found to be unfaithful. Also, in Saudi Arabia, beheading is still the punishment of choice for capital crimes.

When Saudi King Abdullah visits the US, he is not heaped with scorn for his regimes' repressive treatment of his people. Instead he's rewarded with flattering photos of he and George Bush strolling arm-n-arm through the Crawford sage.

Why is Putin blasted for “rolling back democracy” when American stooge, Mikhail Saakashvili, arbitrarily declares martial law and deploys his truncheon wielding Robo-cops to beat protesters senseless before dragging them off to the Georgia gulag? The pictures of Saakashvili's bloody crackdown appeared In the foreign press, but not in the US where the media had all its camera lenses focused on Garry Kasparov (contributing editor to the Wall Street Journal and right-wing loony) as he was led off to the Moscow hoosegow in handcuffs for protesting without a permit.

Poor, abused Garry.

What American wouldn't prefer a leader who stuck up their national interests rather than the interests of global Capital? Has Putin repealed habeas corpus, due process and the presumption of innocence? Has Putin abducted innocent suspects from the streets of foreign capitals and taken them to black sites where they've been tortured, water-boarded and sometimes killed? Has Putin initiated war's of aggression on defenseless countries killing and maiming a million or so civilians on “a pack of lies”? Has Putin created 4 million refugees and a humanitarian crisis which is likely to erupt into a region-wide conflagration?

Those aren't Vladamir Putin's Daisy Cutters and cluster bombs falling on Samara, Falluja and Tal Afar. That isn't Putin's armada in the Gulf off the coast of Iran. Those aren't Putin's intelligence agents and mercenaries executing covert operations in Mogadishu, Beirut and Islamabad.

[rpannier]

4. While there is truth in the article

The fact is that Putin is immensely popular in Russia and much of his support comes from people who don't want to return to the chaos of the 90's.

Yeah he's done things that are anti-Democratic, but he doesn't need them to win elections.

[TheLastMohican]

5. The only true thing here

The "West" has no influence whatsoever on whatever is going on in Russia and that makes some power circles go crazy.
The only course of action is to bark at whatever comes around.

The OSCE delegation is just a "tool". They were invited to oversee Russian Parliamentary elections, but decided not to go. WTF? Who ordered that?

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. They were refused visas

Monitors to miss Russian poll after Moscow fails to give visas

Russia was on a collision course with the European Union last night after the main international organisation responsible for monitoring elections said it would not send observers to next month's parliamentary elections.

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said Moscow had refused to give visas to its 70 experts and observers. The OSCE said it had applied for visas as soon as it received an invitation from Russia on November 2. Although the paperwork had been done, it said officials had deliberately not processed the visas. This made its mission impossible, it said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,,2212600,00.html

So, perhaps Putin ordered it.