Russia held its parliamentary elections last weekend. The United Russia party (which supports Vladimir Putin although he is not a member)got just under 50% of the vote, well down on 64% last time.

 

Or did it? There have been numerous reports of fraud, ballot stuffing and other irregularities. Websites of newspapers supporting opposition parties mysteriously went down on election day. One region reported a turnout of 146%. In another region United Russia supposedly received 99.5% of the vote on a turnout of almost 100%. People who were supposed to be free to monitor the election process found themselves arrested on election day. And that's all without mentioning the extent to which Putin and his cronies control television coverage.

 

It's all very reminiscent of the bad old days of the Soviet Union.

Or Zimbabwe...

99.5% is in Chechnya. Also 91.5% in Mordovia and the same in Dagestan. There were 4 or 5 more federal subjects where ER's result is above 80%. All those enormous results were in national republics. They are the type of federal subjects who are something like a country in a country: special national language, culture, support of the nation etc. I don't know why in this type of federal subjects they falsify THAT much. I think it's down to special financing or something.

 

I was one of those people who monitored the elections, and I can tell a LOT about them. I wasn't arrested or even got out (as well as most of my colleagues in St.-Petes thankfully) and in my site/area everything was fine and honest. There weren't any falsifications here. Putin's party got only 25%. The main oppositional party 'Yabloko' ('Apple') got about 15%. And this is 'United Russia's real rating: about 20-30% in Moscow, Saint Petersburg and other big cities, and about 35-45% in other places.

 

There were loads of mistakes when the cumulative percentage of parties was more than 100%. :lol: But that was just a glitch.

 

We have MASSIVE meetings and demonstrations in Moscow, for the second day thousands of people were getting together. Hundreds of arrestees, including the leader of 'Apple' Mitrokhin. He is free now but other oppositional leaders Navalny and Yashin got 15 days of arrest officially.

 

In Moscow 'United Russia' stole about 20% of votes: real rating 27% (according to exit polls), but they wrote 46%. Most of the supervisors were got out just before the countings of results in a huge number of voting places.

 

In Saint Petersburg they didn't steal THAT much but still about 5-10% aren't theirs. Official St.-Petes results are about 35%.

 

I can definitely tell you that we're definitely not back in USSR.

a. Yes, we have one federal subject with disgraceful 99.5% of United Russia (and 99.5% of attendance :lol: ), but that's only one subject of 80+. In Soviet Russia all the subjects were voting like this.

b. Even official results for Putin's party which were massively falsified are under 50% (albeit only just but still!). They are down 15% from previous results which tells a lot too. They can say whatever they want but even officially more than the half of nation is against their curse, as everyone who is for it is voting for 'United Russia', and all who are against were voting for other six parties.

c. We have had surprisingly good debates between the parties. In most places they were actually *real* debates.

d. The people's very popular name of 'United Russia' is 'The Party of Rogues and Thieves'. It says a lot, doesn't it?

e. Today I saw 'Triumphalnoy' (the square where the oppositional meeting in Moscow is being held for the second day) trending on Twitter WORLDWIDE, as well as 'Putinu (no)'. The resonance of the oppositional meetings in Moscow and St.-Petersburg is absolutely huge.

f. All those arrests of oppositional leaders only added their real popularity between the people. Basically the authorities played against themselves. If they allowed all the oppositional meetings/actions there wouldn't be such a resonance.

 

g. And this is the main. In Soviet Russia most of people were genuinely for the Soviet Union. Today I was going to uni, I was listening the voices on the streets. And most of the people aren't fond of the elections and the whole situation at all.

 

The results are obviously fake. I think the real 'United Russia's results are about 35%, with Communists (which are surprisingly very democratic now) at 30%. But this is not 2007 when 'United Russia' got 64.3% and everyone was like 'Oh right, OK'. I just hope we won't get another 1917, the last thing Russia needs is another revolution. Shame it might be the only way to solve the problem of huge abyss between the authorities and actual people.

Edited December 6, 201113 yr by Arrs

OK, my original post was deliberately worded in the hope that you and/or Pavel would respond. My post was based on what is being reported here. I wanted to hear from people who were rather closer to the elections.

Or Zimbabwe...

 

Or Florida in 2000....

 

Or Florida in 2000....

Ah yes, but that happened in the land of the free :lol:

Ah yes, but that happened in the land of the free :lol:

 

Oh, of course, silly me... And similarly, Police brutality and oppression of peaceful protesters doesn't happen in the US either..... :lol: :lol:

There are so many reports that tell us about falsifications and I even saw a couple of videos capturing heads of electoral commisions filling in voting forms at their very desks.

 

Only here you will have ballot boxes half-full before the start of the election. :lol:

For now, the situation as it is.

 

After massive demonstrations yesterday and on Monday with loads of arrestees today there was barely anything on Triumphalnaya Square in Moscow. In St.-Petersburg there was another action for the 4th day in a row, but like others it wasn't allowed so, yep, again it was dispersed.

 

On Saturday there is a huge allowed meeting planned on Revolution Square BUT Moscow authorities SUDDENLY revealed some problems with canalisation on said square and started digging there. :lol: :lol: There is going to be a huge attendance for it though still, I can easily see 10k of people going there. Representatives of two oppositional parties - 'Spravedlivaya Rossiya' (SR, 'Fair Russia') and 'Yabloko' ('Apple') - are also going to attend and speak.

 

ALSO there are about 50 meetings and demonstrations planned throughout the whole Russia but I don't know how massive they are going to be. I really doubt that apart of Moscow and St.-Petes we shall get massive meetings but who knows! So far the said above meeting confirmed and accepted on 10th and the meeting by 'Yabloko' confirmed and accepted on 17th. Both in Moscow. No info on St.-Petes.

 

Today Communists, SR and 'Yabloko' haven't accepted the results of Federal Parliament elections in St.-Petersburg. Some common actions planned apparently, including meetings, but nothing confirmed yet. Regional St.-Petes elections STILL haven't finalised, and (SURPRISE!) with every update the rating of 'United Russia' is growing. But for now we will seemingly have two equal blocks in the Regional Parliament: 25 chairs of 'United Russia' (20-21) and LDPR (4-5) vs. 25 chairs of Communists (7), 'Yabloko' (6) and SR (12). The target is not to allow 26 chairs of ER+LDPR instead of 25 happen, because in the former Parliament these two parties had the majority and basically could get through anything they wanted. I hope the 'left' block will fight out at least some falsified results and get at least 26/50 chairs in sum. Hopefully the final results will be finally revealed tomorrow.

 

However, the Federal Departments of three oppositional (or 'oppositional' :lol: ) parties LDPR, SR & KPRF (Communists) have confirmed that they won't refuse their chairs in Federal Parliament, like it was suggested by the leader of 'Yabloko' Yavlinskiy, who didn't get through with 3.4% in Russia.

 

I can easily say that we haven't had anything like this since 90s. The last massive oppositional action of this scale was in March'07 ('March of Discordants') which got massive in St.-Petes when 'Yabloko' was taken down in the elections to Regional Parliament. But that was one (albeit big) action in two capitals, now it's all continuous. We have had also massive demonstrations in Moscow against illegal immigration this and last year but sadly they all turned out into just nationalistic actions, so they don't really count.

 

That's it so far.

Thanks for the update.

Sorry if I'm too passionate and post too much but I was one of those people who were members of the monitoring process, so I'm very into it. :lol:

 

The authorities have made two main mistakes:

1. Forced massive falsifications in two capitals - Moscow and St.-Petes, where the majority of protest electorate is formed;

2. Started to make repressions on meetings again in two capitals. Petersburg is the city of three revolutions after all. :lol:

 

Let's wait what's going to happen on Saturday.

You're not posting too much at all. My reason for starting the thread was because I was interested in hearing from you and Pavel.

 

The real pity is that there doesn't seem to be a credible candidate to stand against Putin in March. Or do you think current events might change that?

The main target of the President elections is to go to the second round so far and get Putin under 50%. Even in 2000 when the elections were much more honest Putin won from the first round. And then it will depend on who will come second. The most likely second place is unfortunately Communist Zyuganov. And I think I'd rather vote for Putin if that happens. :lol:

 

I don't know about that. How can you be a candidate?

a. You can be a candidate from one of the Parliament parties, one from each party.

b. Or you can collect 2 million (!!!) of signatures to be in the voting process. Obviously it's hard-to-impossible but some candidates are suggested still.

 

We have the following possible candidates:

1. Putin from 'United Russia' (already confirmed, elected and the documents are already sent)

2. Zyuganov from Communists (unconfirmed but he always goes from KPRF :lol: ). He will get less votes than his party on the past elections because some voted for KPRF because of the only big opposition to 'United Russia' but not many of them will want the Communist President.

3. Zhirinovskiy from clown opposition party LDPR. Will most likely get about 5-10% of votes but for the second tour it will be enough

4. Nothing is confirmed on 'Spravedlivaya Rossiya' side. The candidates for candidates :P are Mironov (the party's leader) but also Dmitrieva (big oppositional leader) and Gudkov (who got very famous after the speech in the former, 5th, Parliament right before the elections where he basically said it all about the forthcoming elections).

 

From these four/six I'll vote for Dmitrieva or Gudkov if they become candidates or spoil my bulletin if Mironov becomes a candidate.

 

Other possible candidates but they're unlikely to get through because of huge barrier.

5. Candidate from 'Yabloko' who got 3.4% on elections. They haven't still decided whether to participate on the President elections, they will do it on 18th of December on their congress. If they decide to collect those 2 million signatures they will either offer their leader Yavlinskiy or organise the primary elections between all the democratic powers. I hope for the latter. I shall definitely support Yavlinskiy if he gets through and most likely support if it will be some someone else from 'Yabloko'.

6. Eduard Limonov might also participate on elections, he's the leader of 'Another Russia' BUT the former leader of nationalistic-bolshevist (!!!) banned party. Most definitely won't even collect the signatures.

 

Many oppositional powers called all the mentioned above candidates to abandon the election process at all. I'd rather like to form the united candidate from the whole opposition but that will never happen, as clown Zhirinovskiy will definitely participate, no matter how the others will agree. So, I hope we will get the second round with Putin (that's undeniable) vs. Dmitrieva/Gudkov/someone from 'Yabloko'. I'm sure Putin will get 50%+ on the first round though. That said, everyone was sure about 'United Russia' getting even above 55-60% on 4'Dec elections and now look what has happened.

Isn't Zhirinovskiy extremely right wing / nationalist? Or am I thinking of someone else? I'm sure there was someone of that name in an earlier election.

He tries to play a nationalistic card but not to the extreme. The demand for nationalists is huge in Russia though because we have loads of illegal immigrates from the formed Soviet Republics who not only go here but are trying to start impose their aggressive / Islamic rules. But Zhirinovskiy is not real, he's a political clown, his party in the Federal Parliament is basically the ER satellite. LDPR is the party of one person. He is VERY charismatic, yes, his charisma gathered 12% of votes after all! But he's not a real offender to Putin. In pair 'Putin - Zhirinovskiy' I'll vote for Zhirinovskiy though. :lol:

Isn't Zhirinovskiy extremely right wing / nationalist? Or am I thinking of someone else? I'm sure there was someone of that name in an earlier election.

 

Yeah, the LDPR are the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, who aren't very liberal. They're ultraconservative, pan-slavists (is that even a word?).

 

Just had a peep at Wikipedia, and one of their main policies is: "Control of all agricultural land by the state." - Sound familiar? :/

He tries to play a nationalistic card but not to the extreme. The demand for nationalists is huge in Russia though because we have loads of illegal immigrates from the formed Soviet Republics who not only go here but are trying to start impose their aggressive / Islamic rules. But Zhirinovskiy is not real, he's a political clown, his party in the Federal Parliament is basically the ER satellite. LDPR is the party of one person. He is VERY charismatic, yes, his charisma gathered 12% of votes after all! But he's not a real offender to Putin. In pair 'Putin - Zhirinovskiy' I'll vote for Zhirinovskiy though. :lol:

That sounds just like people here who don't like the idea of people from the former British Empire moving to Britain. My dad likes to talk about Empire Day (which no longer exists) when he was at school. They would be told about how "Of course, if any of them want to come and live here, they'd all be made welcome". He says he sat there and thought it was a load of rubbish and, of course, he was right. Presumably a lot of these immigrants are the descendants of Russians who moved to the various states when they were swallowed up by the Soviet Union.

So, in the meantime, basically nothing has changed. The meetings on 10th were MASSIVE, there were some big meetings on 17th and 18th.

 

On 24th there is another one which needs to outshine the previous meeting on 10th.

 

The reactions from legislature was different: from 'oh well, everyone has the right to tell what they want' to 'they all were paid by Hillary Clinton!!!'. The latter was said by Putin himself. He also told that the white ribbons - the symbol of the meetings - look like condoms. I think he needs to go to some good psychoanalytic.

 

Today Medvedev told that there are a lot of liberal reforms planned. But basically if he says something it most definitely WON'T happen.

 

Although Putin is going to win the future elections his positions are becoming weaker and weaker everyday. I'm not even sure whether he will win the elections in an honest way. But his competitors are from the worse to worst really.

 

Unless Yavlinskiy SOMEHOW gathers 2 million signatures for his candidacy we will have the freak parade in the running up to the president chair, and most of those freaks (if not all) will be just the formal legit cover for Putin's winning. And this is very sad.

Yes, Putin's comments about Hillary Clinton were silly. They were on a par with Mugabe claiming that Zimbabwean opposition figures are being controlled by the UK.

 

I read today that (former tennis player) Marat Safin was one of the new people elected. Was that for United Russia or an opposition party?

United Russia. Also Valuev, Kabaeva and Rodnina. And even Tereshkova (the first woman-cosmonaut).

 

Another series of meetings were held today but I'm massively not fond of who organises the main one, in Moscow. Nemtsov, Kasyanov etc. are no better than Putin's band, the only difference is that they weren't allowed to the current bribery oligarchy system. If we theoretically get them to the highest managing posts we'll most probably get the Ukraine Ushchenko disaster or even worse. Navalny (the blogger who is a huge political 'pop star' now) invited a lot of nationalists to speak from the tribune with whom he is very familiar, at the same time only one representative from 'Yabloko' (it was Yavlinsky) was allowed on the meeting. Given that up to the 50% of those 100,000 people who went to the Sakharova square in Moscow voted for that party, it was unjustified. 'Yabloko' is basically the competitor to unregistered PARNAS party and its division 'Solidarity' who were the main organisers. And said organisers are trying to privatise all the new electorate to their hands, they only need the new elections to get to the feeder. That said, Yavlinskiy was the only candidate for the President chair who was speaking from the stage.

 

The whole situation is a mess. People blindly follow the fashionable current trends and don't think who is trying to manipulate them. I think it's common for every crowd though, it's not the Russian exclusive problem. Everywhere some groups are trying to manipulate on the mass (in)consciousness, often - with the help of cheating, questionable (to say the least) methods of influencing the people, like mass NLP etc. It's very simple to follow the communistic, nationalistic or ultra-liberal ideology, as the points of said (and some other) ideologies are very simple, demagogic but very effective, as there is no need to think when you follow them.