#7 - JRL 2006-253 - JRL Home
Moscow Times
November 10, 2006
United Russia Seeks More Power at Polls
By Nabi Abdullaev
Staff Writer

State Duma deputies from the pro-Kremlin United Russia party appear to be trying to solidify the Kremlin's lock on power by eliminating a major hurdle for unpopular candidates -- minimum voter turnout.

Voter turnout requirements -- 20 percent for Duma elections and 50 percent for presidential elections -- give disaffected voters a powerful protest tool: the boycott.

By steering clear of an election, voters who believe the election has been rigged or otherwise tampered with can register their protest against the system.

But analysts and United Russia's political opponents say the measure would strip voters of the protest tool and possibly spare the Kremlin an embarrassing slap in the face.

"This move neutralizes the meaning of public discontent with unfair elections," said Sergei Reshulsky, the coordinator of the Communist faction in the Duma.

The Duma measure is contained in an amendment to an election law that has already cleared its first reading. The law eliminates another means for protesting elections, the "against all" option that now appears on ballots. It also permits authorities to strike parties and candidates from ballots if they are deemed "extremist" by a court.

The Duma's Constitution and State Affairs Committee, which has jurisdiction over the measure, is recommending that lawmakers vote on the amendment at a Nov. 15 session.

If adopted, the law -- and the amendment in question -- would take effect before regional and Duma elections next year, which are scheduled for March and October, respectively.

The bill helps pro-Kremlin candidates because it is their supporters who obediently show up at the polls while opposition-minded voters are more likely to stay at home, analysts said.

Opposition parties have voiced strong criticism of the bill.

Reshulsky, of the Communist Party, and Sergei Mitrokhin, one of the leaders of the liberal Yabloko party, agreed that eliminating the turnout threshold crowns the Kremlin's broad strategy of securing against discontent the powers that be.

Other methods cited by Mitrokhin that, he said, have been used by the Kremlin to marginalize the opposition include the elimination of gubernatorial elections and caps on campaign spending.

Reshulsky said the move to consolidate power reflected United Russia's lack of confidence in its public appeal.

United Russia officials countered that the cancellation of the turnout minimum, in fact, had no bearing on Russian democracy.

"The turnout threshold says nothing about the limits of democracy in this or that country," the constitution committee's chairman, United Russia's Vladimir Pligin, said Thursday. Pligin noted there were no turnout requirements in Spain, Great Britain and several U.S. states.

Vyacheslav Volodin, the secretary of United Russia's presidium, said the measure would actually benefit leftist parties.

"Communists have a very determined constituency of about 15 percent. ... Without any threshold, they'll get what they deserve," he said.

Given the dim view many Russians have of their politicians, including First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, elimination of the threshold would make the transfer of power from President Vladimir Putin to his hand-picked successor that much easier, Yury Korgunyuk of the Indem think tank said.

Medvedev and Ivanov are widely seen as presidential contenders in 2008.

"With the super-popular Putin out of the game, many will be disoriented about who to vote for and won't come to the polls at all," Korgunyuk said. "This will not look good for the Kremlin."

On Thursday, the constitutional law committee also recommended that lawmakers cancel early voting, viewed as a way for authorities to rig election results.

Opposition leaders and analysts dismissed this move as a public-relations ploy meant to create the impression that United Russia is surrendering some of its control over elections.