Putin’s United Russia Sweeps Duma Election

United Russia, the political party of President Vladimir Putin, won the parliamentary elections held yesterday. The result was entirely predictable. The polls had Putin’s crew ahead by miles all along, and a joint observer team of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe called the voting “not fair.” A rigged election in Russia is a time-honored custom, which surprises no one.

With about 98.5% of the vote counted, United Russia looks to have secured 64.1% of the votes counted (not necessarily of those cast). The Communist Party of Russia won 11.6% to take second place, third went to the rightist Liberal Democratic Party with 83%, and A Fair Russia got 7.8%. It takes 7% to secure a seat in the 450-seat Duma, something the liberal factions failed to do.

Oddly, it now falls to the Communists to defend the integrity of elections in Russia. Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, stated, “We do not trust these figures announced by the central elections commission and we will conduct a parallel count.” The Communists have said legal challenges and a boycott are not out of the question.

The Liberal Democratic Party’s win will put Andrei Lugovoi in the Duma. He’s the man wanted in the UK for allegedly murdering Alexander Litvinenko with polonium. As a member of the Duma, he is immune from prosecution in Russia, putting the entire case on terminal hold.

Naturally, this exercise means that President Putin will remain the power in Moscow even after his term ends this spring. Whether he decides to become Prime Minister is irrelevant. He is now positioned to pull the strings of the entire legislature as effectively as he can as president. Russian democracy is one man, one vote – the man in Mr. Putin, and he will use his vote as he sees fit for the next several years.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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