Chechen polls expected to hand clear victory to Moscow

By Andrew Osborn in Grozny
Published: 27 November 2005

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article329571.ece

War-weary Chechnya goes to the polls today to do
something it has not had the opportunity to do for
eight traumatic years: elect a parliament.

The vote is the final phase in the Kremlin's
three-step plan to bring the separatist republic back
into the Russian fold after two brutal wars against
secessionists in the past 11 years.

The last time that Chechens held an election was in
1997 and some of die-hard separatist fighters have
condemned the vote as a "pseudo-election". President
Vladimir Putin of Russia hopes the ballot will mark
what Moscow calls the "normalisation" of the Chechen
problem, domestically and internationally, and that
Chechnya's long-suffering population will support it
out of a feeling that it has a stake in its own fate.

Phase one was a referendum in 2003 in which the
mountainous, mainly Muslim, republic voted for
political reintegration with the Russian Federation.
Phase two was a presidential election the same year,
which the Moscow loyalist, Akhmad Kadyrov, won.
However, Mr Kadyrov was killed last year while
reviewing a military parade. His successor, Alu
Alkhanov, a former policeman, is seen as a temporary
fixture who is keeping the seat warm for Mr Kadyrov's
son, Ramzan, the commander of a 5,000-strong private
army who has a reputation for brute force.

Ramzan could not assume his father's mantle
immediately because the Chechen constitution says the
president must be at least 30. Ramzan is due to come
of age next year, however, when observers expect him
to be appointed Chechen president.

Today's election is an important precursor to that
moment and is expected to result in a clear victory
for his - and Mr Putin's - party, United Russia.
Unsurprisingly, Moscow barred candidates who support
Chechnya's independence. But several rebels who took
advantage of an amnesty, renounced violence and came
down from the mountains were allowed to stand - proof,
Moscow says, that the elections are a genuine, open
contest. The former fighters were only allowed to
stand after they had accepted that Chechnya will
remain part of Russia.

Polls show many Chechens have doubts about the
fairness of the elections. So does the West. Although
international observers from various former Soviet
republics, Asia and the Middle East will be present,
Western observers will not. The European Union said it
is formulating its position on Russia's Chechnya
policy while the Council of Europe said it doubted the
vote could be deemed free and fair while extreme
violence remained an everyday phenomenon.

The council's remarks referred in part to the
kidnapping rife in the republic. Human rights
activists claim that more than 200 people were
abducted this year alone. Many are still missing.
Federal troops and Chechnya's Moscow-backed police
have repeatedly been accused of complicity in the
kidnappings, which they deny.

The run-up to the election was marred by an incident
in which drunken federal soldiers robbed local people
at gunpoint and shot dead three Chechen civilians.
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Chechens Vote for Parliament Amid Fake Charges

http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2005-11/27/article05.shtml

GROZNY, November 27, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News
Agencies) – Voters in war-ravaged Chechnya cast
ballots Sunday, November 27, in their first
parliamentary elections in eight years, billed by the
Kremlin as a milestone in restoring normal life but
already dismissed by rights groups as a fake. The
voting started at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) amid high security
and the region's pro-Moscow president, Alu Alkhanov,
was among the first to vote in his home town of
Urus-Martan, predicting at least 70 percent of
turnout, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
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More about Genocide in Chechnya at:
http://www.islamawareness.net/Persecution/Chechnya/