Russia's election

How it was rigged

A farce of a poll, but Vladimir Putin looks stronger

IT WAS never in doubt that Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party would get a sweeping victory in the parliamentary elections on Sunday December 2nd. The entire government machine, the court system, the prosecution service, the police, the state media and even the central commission itself were deployed to produce a landslide victory. The result was programmed months ago: United Russia got its 64%; just three other parties—the Communists, the ultra-nationalist and obedient Liberal Democratic Party and Just Russia, a Kremlin satellite—passed a 7% threshold.

Nor was there any doubt that the poll was rigged. “The election was not fair and failed to meet standards for democratic elections,” concluded the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe in a joint statement. Nothing was left to chance to ensure a high turnout. In Moscow your correspondent spotted several “tourist” buses stuffed with people from far-flung regions. They voted early and often. The buses were guarded by men in black leather coats and ski hats who, every few minutes, would let a small group out of the vehicle to cast their ballots. They would move to the next polling station and repeat the exercise. The “leader” of the group said the men were workers from a nearby factory. But, despite strict instruction to keep silent, some admitted that they were free labourers and came from as far away as the Kemerovo region, some 3500 km from Moscow. “We have been going around polling stations since lunch time,” grumbled one man, “and they have not paid us yet”.

Plain-clothed police and security service officers ensured orderly voting and kept undesirables, including some observers and journalists, away from the polling stations. Yet opposition parties managed to video at least one incident of ballot boxes being stuffed. Elsewhere blackmail and bribery helped get more people out to vote. The result was a turnout of 63% and a resounding win for United Russia. Some regions were particularly active. In Chechnya an implausible 99.2% of residents backed the ruling party. Neighbouring Ingushetia, where the elections were preceded by mass protests against the government, produced an almost identical result. Observers suggested that in fact only 8% of people turned out to vote there.

Opposition leaders say that the election is the most dishonest since the break up of the Soviet Union. Although most international observers were kept away from the polling stations, a few members of the parliamentary assembly of the OSCE who were allowed to watch said that the Kremlin all but decided the outcome. “The executive branch acted as though it practically elected the parliament,” said Kimmo Kiljunen, deputy head of the parliamentary assembly.

The irony is that United Russia would have won anyway—Mr Putin who has presided over economic growth is genuinely popular. Perhaps it would have got 50%, maybe the turn-out would only have been 40%. The rigging matters nonetheless because it again demonstrates Mr Putin’s contempt not only for his critics, but for Russians as a whole. How he plans to use his victory is the next question. The electoral fight was not so much about the composition of the parliament, which is weak, little more than a rubber stamp for laws produced by the Kremlin. By putting himself as number one on the party list, without even joining it, Mr Putin turned the election into a referendum on his own popularity.

He has set the stage for the presidential poll next March when he is due to step down as president. Russia's constitution bans him from running for a third consecutive term. This victory gives him a mandate to remain the most influential figure in Russia, while handpicking an obedient successor. As Kiril Rogov, a political analyst, argued recently in the New Times magazine, the people of Russia will wait for Mr Putin to tell them who they should vote for. That may come soon. On December 17th United Russia holds its congress and is expected to present Mr Putin’s chosen candidate for presidency.