Duma Elections
Electoral Rerun
By Sean at 16 October, 2009, 10:12 am
Last Sunday’s municipal elections in 75 of Russia’s 83 regions were like a bad rerun. Everyone played their role well in the latest stage production of managed liberal democracy. United Russia trounced its rivals, most importantly in the coveted Moscow city government where UR took 32 of 35 seats. The country’s real opposition, the Communist [...]
Read More >>Medvedev’s Moves
By Sean at 16 November, 2008, 11:51 am
“I’m out of it for a little while and everybody gets delusions of grandeur.” Now I understand how Han Solo felt after being defrosted from carbonite. I go into the basement for two weeks and there are rumors of me being in a post-election hangover, or worse, murdered. Well, I assure you dear readers that [...]
Read More >>King Kadyrov
By Sean at 7 December, 2007, 5:56 am
For Chechen hetman Ramzan Kadyrov, last weekend’s Duma elections was just another opportunity to show his loyalty to Moscow and further entrench his own power. 99.36 percent of the Chechen vote–574,101 votes out of an electorate of 580,918–went to United Russia. A staggering turnout of 99.5 percent. A number which appeared to [...]
Read More >>Bread and Butter
By Sean at 4 December, 2007, 5:08 pm
Here’s something to chew on. Nicolai Petro asks in his column “Why Russian Liberals Lose“:
“Why have Russia’s self-proclaimed “liberals” done so badly at attracting popular support?” A few reasons actually. First, he states that liberals like Vladimir Ryzhkov, Irina Khakamada, Grigory Yavinsky, Mikhail Kasyanov and Boris Nemtsov’s initial embrace of figures like [...]
Predictable Responses to Predictable Results
By Sean at 4 December, 2007, 2:31 pm
The only thing more predictable than United Russia’s victory on Sunday, is the West’s virtually unanimous condemnation of the elections. A spokesman from the German government called them “Neither a free, fair nor democratic election.” The Swedish forgien minister said Russia is a “steered democracy.” A European observer call them “not a level playing [...]
Read More >>5th Duma Slated to Look like 4th Duma
By Sean at 3 December, 2007, 10:03 am
Here are the official results TsIK (Central Electoral Commission) head Vladimir Churov gave at a press conference.
United Russia:
64.1%
Communist Party of the Russian Federation:
11.6%
Liberal Democratic Party:
8.2%
Just Russia:
7.8%
Agrarian Party of Russia:
2.3%
Yabloko:
1.6%
Civil Forces:
1.1%
Union of Right Forces:
1.0%
Patriots of Russia:
0.9%
Party of Social Justice:
0.2%
Democratic Party of Russia:
0.1%
The turnout of the election was 63% of registered voters.
According to VTsIOM, the [...]
Read More >>
