MOSCOW. April 11 (Interfax) - The members of the December 12 Roundtable, including Moscow Helsinki Group head Lyudmila Alexeyeva, Party of People's Freedom Co-Chairman Mikhail Kasyanov, and political analyst Georgy Satarov, believe the political reform declared by the Russian leadership is purely cosmetic in nature.
"Instead of guaranteeing the people's right to freely unite into political parties, the executive branch will fully retain all administrative levers to restrict this right under the guise of political reform, and the demand that political forces can freely consolidate into election blocs has been declined," December 12 Roundtable said in a memorandum on Wednesday.
"Instead of direct gubernatorial elections and free access to them, there will be a double filter for party candidates, that is, their clearance by the president and collection of signatures of municipal deputies; as for self-nominees, a traditional barrier of having to collect voters' signatures has been preserved for them," the memorandum says. "The demand that a monetary deposit be used has been declined," it says.
"The new State Duma election procedure is even worse than that stipulated by the existing law and is beneficial only to the ruling party. The way election commissions are formed has not been changed. The promises to make amendments have remained empty. Instead of the soonest possible organization of municipal, regional, and gubernatorial elections by the new rules, such elections have in fact been postponed until the fall of 2013 using a clever trick, that is, transition to a single voting day in September," it says.
"Instead of eliminating virtual censorship on federal television, it has been promised to establish a new channel at the people's cost, with imitation of public control over its editorial policy. There are no hints of guaranteeing independence of courts and the rule of law," it says.
"The ruling elite has demonstrated once again that its true goal is to preserve total control over the political environment and kill any independent political life," it says.
"To create conditions for increasing such pressure on the authorities, all citizens, organizations, and political forces should consolidate on a common civic platform for democratization of the political environment in the country.
The December 12 Roundtable is determined to expand its activities as a platform for such consolidation," the document says.
Keywords: Russia, Government, Politics - Russian News - Russia
MOSCOW. April 11 (Interfax) - The members of the December 12 Roundtable, including Moscow Helsinki Group head Lyudmila Alexeyeva, Party of People's Freedom Co-Chairman Mikhail Kasyanov, and political analyst Georgy Satarov, believe the political reform declared by the Russian leadership is purely cosmetic in nature.
"Instead of guaranteeing the people's right to freely unite into political parties, the executive branch will fully retain all administrative levers to restrict this right under the guise of political reform, and the demand that political forces can freely consolidate into election blocs has been declined," December 12 Roundtable said in a memorandum on Wednesday.
"Instead of direct gubernatorial elections and free access to them, there will be a double filter for party candidates, that is, their clearance by the president and collection of signatures of municipal deputies; as for self-nominees, a traditional barrier of having to collect voters' signatures has been preserved for them," the memorandum says. "The demand that a monetary deposit be used has been declined," it says.
"The new State Duma election procedure is even worse than that stipulated by the existing law and is beneficial only to the ruling party. The way election commissions are formed has not been changed. The promises to make amendments have remained empty. Instead of the soonest possible organization of municipal, regional, and gubernatorial elections by the new rules, such elections have in fact been postponed until the fall of 2013 using a clever trick, that is, transition to a single voting day in September," it says.
"Instead of eliminating virtual censorship on federal television, it has been promised to establish a new channel at the people's cost, with imitation of public control over its editorial policy. There are no hints of guaranteeing independence of courts and the rule of law," it says.
"The ruling elite has demonstrated once again that its true goal is to preserve total control over the political environment and kill any independent political life," it says.
"To create conditions for increasing such pressure on the authorities, all citizens, organizations, and political forces should consolidate on a common civic platform for democratization of the political environment in the country.
The December 12 Roundtable is determined to expand its activities as a platform for such consolidation," the document says.