Russia “Votes”

I like the title of the following article, “Putin and Medvedev in relaxed mood as Russia votes.” It says it all. Vlad “the Bear” Putin and his cronies at the Kremlin have succeeded in destroying any advances made since the fall of the Soviet Union. They have taken over Television and radio. Coerced newspapers into killing articles critical of Putin’s buddies in government. Lined their pockets with money gained from monopolizing businesses and the oil market through nefarious means. And, finally, just to make sure they get elected, they’ve rigged the election by removing the names of any serious contenders from the ballot…

Well played, my friend… Well played… o/

Putin and Medvedev in relaxed mood as Russia votes
The Associated Press – International Herald Tribune
Published: March 2, 2008
MOSCOW: Russian voters were expected to endorse Vladimir Putin’s choice of a successor in the presidential election Sunday, allowing Putin to retain a measure of power in a nation whose wealth and global voice have grown while democratic freedoms have diminished.

Dmitri Medvedev, a 42-year-old lawyer and loyal Kremlin aide, is expected to take over from Putin, whose eight years as president have left a deep imprint on the country. Putin has said he would accept Medvedev’s offer of the prime minister’s post.

“I’m in a good mood. Spring is here,” Medvedev said as he cast his ballot in Moscow, where rain and snow sprinkled slushy streets. “The season has changed.”

Putin, smiling and relaxed as he went to vote, said that he was in a “holiday” spirit and that his wife, Lyudmila, had called the rain “a good sign” – a reference to an old Russian superstition.

Some voters complained of pressure to cast ballots in Medvedev’s favor, and critics called the election a cynical stage show. “The result doesn’t matter, as this is an illegitimate transfer of power,” said former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, a Putin foe who was barred from the ballot.

Few international observers monitored the election, in which accounts of pressure will reinforce Western concerns of backtracking on democracy under Putin. A Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, said, “These are free and democratic elections after a free and democratic campaign.”

Two election-day bomb explosions targeting a police convoy near Chechnya served as a reminder of the tensions around the once-breakaway republic, one of the challenges the next president will face. Some 450,000 police officers and troops were deployed nationwide to ensure the voting proceeded calmly.

If Medvedev wins, the world will watch closely to see how he and Putin share power. Some in the West have welcomed Medvedev’s reputation as a moderate after years of tense ties with Putin over his crackdown on domestic dissent, U.S. plans for a missile defense and Kosovo’s independence, among other things.

Analysts predict, though, that Medvedev could face opposition from Kremlin insiders hostile to the West.

Though he has never held elected office, Medvedev has had an easy ride toward the presidency. Polls predicted he would take a solid majority of votes against the three other candidates: Gennady Zyuganov. a communist; Vladimir Zhirinovsky, an ultranationalist; and Andrei Bogdanov of the Democratic Party.

Turnout was the only electoral uncertainty Sunday. It stood at 48 percent nationwide by midafternoon Moscow time, the Central Election Commission said.

In Chechnya, riven by two wars since 1994 but now more or less under control of a Kremlin-backed administration, President Ramzan Kadyrov predicted 95 percent to 100 percent turnout.

“I voted for a bright future, for Medvedev,” he said in Grozny.

Polling stations offered enticements to voters: discounted food, office supplies, concerts and flowers. That echoed Soviet times, when hard-to-get items were available during carefully staged elections. In a post-Soviet touch apparently aimed to bolster turnout, some polling stations were set up in shopping malls.

Government-paid teachers and doctors across the country complained that they were being pressured to vote at their workplace under the gaze of their superiors to ensure a convincing win and a high turnout for Medvedev.

The liberal opposition leaders Kasyanov and Garry Kasparov, the former world chess champion and one of the Kremlin’s most prominent critics, were squeezed off the ballot on technicalities. Kasparov held his own protest Sunday near Red Square. Escorted by a dozen riot police officers, he carried a plastic shopping bag that read, “I am not participating in this farce.”

Only 300 international election observers were monitoring the 96,000 voting stations across Russia’s 11 time zones. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe refused to send observers, saying Russia had imposed such tight restrictions that its mission would be meaningless.
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