RUSSIA: Disputes Arise Over Presidential Poll

By Kester Kenn Klomegah Reprint | | Print |

Kester Kenn Klomegah

MOSCOW, Feb 21 2008 (IPS) - Russia is engaged in a new confrontation with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) ahead of presidential elections due Mar. 2.

The OSCE, a European forum for political dialogue, has refused to send observers in the face of restrictions imposed on them. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said, on the other hand, that the OSCE is “ripe for reform”. A new president is due to be elected to replace Putin.

Disputes have arisen over quotas for observers, and over the period and methodology for monitoring the elections.

Russia invited 75 observers from the OSCE to arrive Feb. 28. Monitors normally arrive up to two months before polling so they can observe the registration of candidates, campaigning, and media coverage.

Russia had set similar limitations in the December parliamentary election. The OSCE refused then too, to send observers. The OSCE election monitoring arm is seen as the most authoritative international vote-monitoring organisation.

The number of observers Russia now allows has been dramatically reduced from earlier elections. The period of monitoring has also been substantially reduced to just a few days.

“There are deep political reasons for such a move. OSCE is profoundly concerned that Russia does not comply with international electoral standards that it itself agreed with by signing OSCE documents,” Yevgeny Volk, head of the Moscow office of the Heritage Foundation, a political think tank, told IPS.

“What worries OSCE is the excessive use of administrative leverage in favour of a single candidate, his unilateral benefits in accessing mass media and various audiences, while other contenders are deprived of such opportunities. OSCE by no means wants to endorse elections which it considers not fair and not free.”

Russian official observers, and others from pro-Russian international bodies such as the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) are likely to provide assessments favourable to Russian authorities.

“As for independent Russian observers representing NGOs and opposition political parties, they would hardly get access to sensitive information on vote counting, and to mass media to articulate their opinion,” Volk said. “That is the main difference between them and OSCE observers who would have priority access, and that’s why authorities are not much worried about domestic observers.”

Some academics say both Russian authorities and the OSCE are engaged in public relations politics.

“There is no sense in observing the election because there is no meaning in the election to begin with. The whole political system is undemocratic, and in this situation specific irregularities make no difference,” Boris Kargalitsky, director of the Institute of Globalisation Studies in Moscow told IPS.

“In fact, I think there are less of them now than there used to be under (former president Boris) Yeltsin, because the process of candidates’ nomination was by then not so effectively controlled. However, western observers never discovered anything serious, though massive vote rigging was by then a routine. In this context it is not surprising that Russians are not missing foreign observers this time.”

Mathias Roth, a visiting research fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in Brussels, believes that the decision by the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) not to monitor the presidential elections in Russia is entirely appropriate. The decision has received support from the Slovenian EU Council presidency, the European Commission, and various member states.

“All major election observing organisations have laid down clear guidelines and minimum conditions based on which they decide whether effective election observation is possible or not. One of these conditions is the ability to ensure that a small number of long-term election observers can be deployed before election day itself, in order to monitor the election campaign and election preparations,” said Roth. “The Russian presidential elections can be regarded as organised succession and a nominal transfer of power to a member of the ruling elite.

“The parliamentary and the presidential elections serve the purpose of providing a certain legitimacy to the office-holders, and popular approval of the decisions taken in the Kremlin. Even if the elections were to proceed without any direct manipulations, one would have to qualify them at best as free but not fair, as Russia’s current political system does not allow for the emergence of alternative political forces and genuinely competitive elections.”