DECEMBER 2007

From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 12/4/2007 9:49 AM
Tuesday, 4 December 2007, 17:23 GMT
 
Russia poll vexes EU and Poland
Polish PM Donald Tusk (courtesy of European Commission)
Donald Tusk still wants to improve ties with Moscow
Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk has criticised the conduct of Russia's election, during his first talks with top EU officials since taking office.

His comments in Brussels contrasted sharply with those of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who congratulated President Vladimir Putin on Monday.

The EU's Portuguese presidency said Sunday's parliamentary election failed to meet international standards.

A Polish-Russian dispute has fuelled EU-Russia tensions in the past year.

The previous Polish government blocked talks on a new EU-Russia agreement after Russia imposed a ban on imports of Polish meat products.

Referring to the Russian election, Mr Tusk said "we should not in Europe be tolerant of a situation where certain democratic standards are being broken".

EU voices concern

The EU statement on Tuesday echoed that criticism, noting that "there were many reports and allegations of media restrictions as well as ...
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From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 12/4/2007 11:39 AM
In Russia, the backward march to czarism continues
Publication time: Today at 17:44 Djokhar time
SUNDAY'S parliamentary elections yielded the predictable result -- an easy victory for the Kremlin-backed party United Russia. They also made a mockery of President Vladimir Putin's insistence that Russia belongs in the club of Western democratic nations.

Even after years of increasingly centralized authority, the vote Sunday was a throwback. Backed by the administrative apparatus of the state, United Russia, Mr. Putin's personal political vehicle, rode roughshod over its divided and disorganized rivals. In true Soviet style, opposition parties were demonized as the lackeys of Western "enemies." The campaign, conducted with brass-knuckled disregard for any who would stand in Mr. Putin's way, was followed by election day reports of fraud, abuse, multiple ballots and other irregularities. In the occupied Chechnya, the president's party collected 99.36 percent of the vote with turnout of 99.5 percent, an outcome that Ramzan Kadyrov, the local stooge of Putin, characterized ...
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From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 12/5/2007 12:25 PM
Forbes.com

International
Russia's Kremlin Sustains Control
Oxford Analytica 12.05.07, 6:00 AM ET

The Kremlin's party, United Russia, won a landslide victory in the Dec. 2 parliamentary elections.

President Vladimir Putin now enjoys an enhanced constitutional (two-thirds) majority in the State Duma. As a result, he has a free hand to explore the options of remaining in power when his term as president expires next year.

Consistent with the polls of recent weeks, United Russia gained over 60% of the vote in the elections on Dec. 2. With 97.9% of electoral protocols counted, the Central Electoral Commission reported that just four parties had surpassed the 7% threshold. Apart from United Russia, they were the Communist Party (CPRF), the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) and Just Russia.

The elections were conducted under fully proportional electoral rules, which raised the threshold from 5% to 7% and removed the option of voting against all candidates. They produced fewer wasted votes and a higher level of voter turnout:

--Some ...
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rom: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 12/5/2007 12:30 PM
Monitors Say Russian Vote Unfair
By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
Associated Press Writer

MOSCOW — Foreign election observers and Russian opposition groups accused authorities Monday of manipulating a sweeping parliamentary victory for the party of President Vladimir Putin, who hailed the vote as a validation of his leadership.

"Of course it's a sign of trust," Putin said in televised remarks. "Russians will never allow the nation to take a destructive path, as happened in some other ex-Soviet nations."

The victory of the United Russia party sets the stage for Putin to stay in charge as a "national leader" even after he steps down as president next spring because of term limits.

The presidential candiate to be named by his party this month is expected to be a figurehead who would take orders from Putin or even step down early to let Putin regain his seat. Any candidate who has Putin support could be expected to win easily amid tight Kremlin's control over media and official ...
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From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 12/6/2007 1:40 AM
washingtonpost.com
Europeans Call Russia Vote 'Not Fair'
Landslide Win by Kremlin Bloc Followed Official 'Abuse of Power,' Two Groups Say

By Peter Finn
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, December 4, 2007; A14

MOSCOW, Dec. 3 -- Russia's parliamentary election, which the pro-Kremlin United Russia party won overwhelmingly, was "not fair" and failed to meet international democratic standards, observers from two leading European organizations said Monday. They 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 . . . media coverage strongly in favor of the ruling party and an election code whose cumulative effect hindered political pluralism," the parliamentary assemblies of the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said in a joint statement.

"The merging of the state and a political party is an abuse of power," the statement said.

With near-final figures in Sunday's vote giving United ...
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