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| 'Victory is ours': Some 10,000 supporters of Nashi, the pro-Kremlin youth group, rallied near Red Square Monday. Shamil Zhumatov/Reuters |
United Russia wins, Putin sees 'moral mandate' in vote
His United Russia party secured a two-thirds majority in parliament, eliminating virtually all opposition to Kremlin policies.
from the December 4, 2007 edition
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With almost all ballots counted Monday, UR had won 64 percent of the votes, which, when the votes of losing parties are folded in, will give it a more than two-thirds majority in the Duma. Two other parties that support the Kremlin line, Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democrats and the Fair Russia party (also known as "Just Russia"), won about 8 percent each. Together the three pro-Kremlin parties will hold a commanding majority of 393 out of the Duma's 450 seats.
"I want to thank Russian citizens, all voters, for a high turnout," Putin said Monday. "Special thanks to those who voted for United Russia, whose election list I headed; this is an indication of trust," he added.
The only opposition force to surpass the 7 percent barrier was Russia's Communist Party, which won 11.6 percent – its smallest share of the vote since the collapse of the Soviet Union. "There wasn't much opposition or debate inside the Duma even before the elections, and things can be expected to stay that way," says Boris Makarkin, deputy director of the Center for Political Technologies, an independent think tank.
Two liberal parties squeezed out of the Duma in 2003, Yabloko and the Union of Right Forces, trailed with about 1 percent each. Both say they will protest what they describe as the dirtiest election in post-Soviet history.
"We tried to use our first opportunity in four years to speak to people, but what can you do when the courts, the media, and all the financial resources are arrayed against you?" asks Yevgenia Dillendorf, Yabloko's press secretary. "These elections were not fair, open, honest, or free."
Other opposition parties, including the Communist Party, said they will file official complaints over an election campaign in which government resources were allegedly lavished on United Russia, and the state-run media gave the lion's share of attention to Putin and his party.
The joint European observer delegation agreed that the voting failed to meet international standards for free and fair elections. "The polls took place in an atmosphere which seriously limited political competition," the observers said in a statement. "There was not a level playing field." Russia's only group of independent election monitors, Golos, said its observers were excluded from polling stations in many regions, and one of its activists was arrested.
Vladimir Churov, chairman of the Central Elections Commission, told Russian state TV Monday that he noticed "no serious violations in the course of polling day."
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