By Kester Kenn Klomegah
MOSCOW, Dec 1 2007 (IPS)

On the eve of the parliamentary elections here, the United States, UK and European Union are questioning the legitimacy of Russia’s democratic institutions. Russian President Vladimir Putin has responded by issuing strict warnings against external interference in domestic political affairs.

"We have done everything we can to free Russia from internal upheaval and place it firmly on the road of evolutionary development," Putin said at a reception held for the heads of diplomatic missions in Moscow ahead of the Dec. 2 elections. "I am forced to repeat, we will not allow any external interference in this process. This is the main signal that I would ask you to send back to your capitals," he told some 200 guests – mainly diplomats accredited in Moscow.

"We know the value of authentic democracy and we want to hold honest elections that are as transparent and open as possible, without organisational failures and problems," Putin emphasised. "I am confident that this upcoming election will be of precisely this kind," he said, stressing that Russia, held many election campaigns over its 16 years of democratic development.

"Russia is a sovereign country and has stopped appeasing the West, and for better or for worse, would do things in its way," Eric Kraus, a director at the Nikitsky Russia and CIS Opportunities Fund, told IPS.

Russia&#39s mistake is to use the term democracy, Kraus explains. The Chinese refer to themselves as communists or even Marxist or Leninists although they are not – nobody seems to think that they were under any obligation to comply with the dictates of the West.

"Is China a superpower? Is India? Brazil? Same applies to Russia. It is a major power fighting to retain its own sphere of influence and on the global stage, it is looking for a new role. It is useless to look back at the twentieth century power structures. They are obsolete," Kraus stressed.

"There is some fear in the Russian administration that western criticism will result in the Russians rising up in a new revolution," Allison Gianneschi, a research fellow on Russian and Eurasian politics at the Centre for International Fellowship Programmes of the Russian Alfa Bank, told IPS. "Russians are knowledgeable and perfectly capable of evaluating the criticism that they hear from abroad and compare them against domestic government messages and the experience of their own everyday lives," Gianneschi said.

"I really don&#39t think foreign opinions will influence domestic politics very much, but hypothetically speaking, if it seems like western criticism is causing problems for the Russian government, it probably isn&#39t western criticism that is causing the problem, but rather the lack of an appropriate and convincing government rebuttal," Gianneschi explained.

Gianneschi believes that the primary problem is connected with the practice of freedom of speech. Anyone in any country should have the right to comment on events and political behaviour of leaders in other countries, Gianneschi says, adding that, "people who perceive this as dangerous are those who don&#39t have faith in the ability of their own arguments to withstand open political discourse."

When Putin took office in 2000 – instead of inheriting a well-developed democracy – he received a Gordian knot of social, political and economic problems. For example, many local governors were corrupt and had established elaborate systems of patronage that stifled economic development and social mobility. In the West, this would have been remedied by the court system, however in Russia the court system is also corrupt, Gianneschi explained.

Gianneschi observes that it is no secret to anyone here that electronic media faces heavy censorship. It is almost comical how inundated every street in Moscow is with billboards and flags promoting Putin&#39s candidacy to the State Duma, when almost all other political billboards are conspicuously absent, Gianneschi says. Opposition groups were denied permission to hold public rallies and political meetings, Gianneschi concludes.

Polls predict Putin&#39s party could win two-thirds of the popular vote and 80 percent of the 450 seats in the State Duma – the lower chamber of parliament. A few seats may go to the Communists headed by Gennady Zyuganov and the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia founded by Vladimir Zhirinovsky that got seven percent and five percent in the polls respectively.

Putin has been campaigning throughout the country and has used his power to ensure an overwhelming victory for the main pro-Kremlin party United Russia at Sunday&#39s elections. The election is now being considered a referendum on Putin’s policies.

Opposition groups have accused Putin of violating the election rules and regulations, but the Central Election Commission defended Putin’s tactics.

Putin&#39s televised speech in which he called on voters to cast ballots for a certain political party is not a violation of Russian electoral legislation, Igor Borisov, a member of the Russian Central Elections Commission (CEC), told the local media on Friday.

"The rights to the freedom of speech and the spread of information are guaranteed by the Russian constitution," Borisov said.

"The mass media have the rights to choose freely and disseminate any information provided that it complies with current legislation. If elections information support complies with the legislation, that is, if it is objective, trustworthy, and offers equal coverage, then there can be no violations," Borisov said.

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