Chechen elections mocked by rebels as 'pseudo-ballot'
By Andrew Osborn in Grozny
Published: 28 November 2005

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article329713.ece

Most voters who were present said they supported
United Russia, the party of the Russian President,
Vladimir Putin, and the local pro-Moscow strongman,
Ramzan Kadyrov. War-scarred Chechnya was turned into a
Potemkin village yesterday as Russia staged rare
parliamentary elections designed to draw a line under
two brutal wars of secession.

The vote was the first time that Chechnya has been
given the chance to elect a parliament in eight years.
Until now the Kremlin considered it too volatile and
the parliament's role was fulfilled by an appointed
state council.

However Russia believes the republic is ready for more
self-rule and is keen to portray the ballot as the
start of a new, peaceful phase of reintegration.

Local officials' aspirations are more modest: they
hope the event will go some way to altering Chechnya's
image as an impoverished, dangerous Mad Max-like
badland garrisoned by 80,000 Russian troops.

Separatist rebels have a different perspective; they
have derided the elections as a farce and as a
"pseudo-vote''. However a handful of former rebels who
have renounced violence stood as candidates. The
Kremlin said it proved that the elections were open to
all.

Voting stations shown to the world media yesterday
were quiet. Most voters who were present said they
supported United Russia, the party of the Russian
President, Vladimir Putin, and the local pro-Moscow
strongman, Ramzan Kadyrov. Poll stewards sometimes
outnumbered voters.

A Russian official put the low number of voters down
to the fact that most Chechnyans prefer to vote early
in the morning because they are working in the farms
in the afternoon.

The dearth of voters was compensated for by a bus
packed with United Russia supporters laid on by the
authorities who trailed international media
representatives so as to give the impression of a
higher and more pro-Moscow turnout. For a place where
70 per cent of the one million strong population is
out of work, the mood was cheerful. Men donning
traditional Chechnya sheepskin hats played folk songs
on their accordions in polling stations while women
danced fiery jigs.

The green, white and red Chechnya flag was often hung
alongside the white, blue and red of the Russian
federal tricolour, while posters showed Mr Putin
shaking the hand of the pro-Moscow Chechnyan
President, Alu Alkhanov. "I'm your Citizen
Chechnyan,'' read one such poster.

The Kremlin also mobilised celebrity talent to enlist
support, some of it questionable, in an attempt to
portray the region as just another part of Russia. The
boxer and convicted rapist Mike Tyson paid a surreal
pre-election visit, and the authorities wooed an array
of mainstream Russian pop stars to an enormous outdoor
concert.

But selling Chechnya as a promising region remains
challenging. A Utopian Soviet-style propaganda poster
hanging forlornly on a wall near a polling station in
Grozny showed why. The poster depicted cheerful
Chechnyans doing things that people in most countries
take for granted. A grinning cobbler proudly held up a
brown leather shoe in one scene, an agricultural
worker sprayed a field with pesticide in another, a
builder enthusiastically laid bricks in yet another,
and a teacher was shown eulogising about Chechnya's
natural beauty to her class. Just to the right of the
poster the reality of Chechnya was a reminder that
life here is not quite like that. The shelled remains
of apartment blocks and factories bombed by Russian
planes as recently as 2000 scarred the roadside.

Preliminary results are due to be released today.
Surveys suggest that United Russia will win. Sulumbek
Ismailov, a United Russia supporter, said Chechnya's
yearning to become independent had fizzled out.
"Chechnya cannot exist without Russia. It's that
simple,'' he said.

Most voters who were present said they supported
United Russia, the party of the Russian President,
Vladimir Putin, and the local pro-Moscow strongman,
Ramzan Kadyrov.
War-scarred Chechnya was turned into a Potemkin
village yesterday as Russia staged rare parliamentary
elections designed to draw a line under two brutal
wars of secession.

The vote was the first time that Chechnya has been
given the chance to elect a parliament in eight years.
Until now the Kremlin considered it too volatile and
the parliament's role was fulfilled by an appointed
state council.

However Russia believes the republic is ready for more
self-rule and is keen to portray the ballot as the
start of a new, peaceful phase of reintegration.

Local officials' aspirations are more modest: they
hope the event will go some way to altering Chechnya's
image as an impoverished, dangerous Mad Max-like
badland garrisoned by 80,000 Russian troops.

Separatist rebels have a different perspective; they
have derided the elections as a farce and as a
"pseudo-vote''. However a handful of former rebels who
have renounced violence stood as candidates. The
Kremlin said it proved that the elections were open to
all.

Voting stations shown to the world media yesterday
were quiet. Most voters who were present said they
supported United Russia, the party of the Russian
President, Vladimir Putin, and the local pro-Moscow
strongman, Ramzan Kadyrov. Poll stewards sometimes
outnumbered voters.

A Russian official put the low number of voters down
to the fact that most Chechnyans prefer to vote early
in the morning because they are working in the farms
in the afternoon.
The dearth of voters was compensated for by a bus
packed with United Russia supporters laid on by the
authorities who trailed international media
representatives so as to give the impression of a
higher and more pro-Moscow turnout. For a place where
70 per cent of the one million strong population is
out of work, the mood was cheerful. Men donning
traditional Chechnya sheepskin hats played folk songs
on their accordions in polling stations while women
danced fiery jigs.

The green, white and red Chechnya flag was often hung
alongside the white, blue and red of the Russian
federal tricolour, while posters showed Mr Putin
shaking the hand of the pro-Moscow Chechnyan
President, Alu Alkhanov. "I'm your Citizen
Chechnyan,'' read one such poster.

The Kremlin also mobilised celebrity talent to enlist
support, some of it questionable, in an attempt to
portray the region as just another part of Russia. The
boxer and convicted rapist Mike Tyson paid a surreal
pre-election visit, and the authorities wooed an array
of mainstream Russian pop stars to an enormous outdoor
concert.

But selling Chechnya as a promising region remains
challenging. A Utopian Soviet-style propaganda poster
hanging forlornly on a wall near a polling station in
Grozny showed why. The poster depicted cheerful
Chechnyans doing things that people in most countries
take for granted. A grinning cobbler proudly held up a
brown leather shoe in one scene, an agricultural
worker sprayed a field with pesticide in another, a
builder enthusiastically laid bricks in yet another,
and a teacher was shown eulogising about Chechnya's
natural beauty to her class. Just to the right of the
poster the reality of Chechnya was a reminder that
life here is not quite like that. The shelled remains
of apartment blocks and factories bombed by Russian
planes as recently as 2000 scarred the roadside.

Preliminary results are due to be released today.
Surveys suggest that United Russia will win. Sulumbek
Ismailov, a United Russia supporter, said Chechnya's
yearning to become independent had fizzled out.
"Chechnya cannot exist without Russia. It's that
simple,'' he said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Russia trumpets Chechnya's 'democratic and honest'
poll
By Andrew Osborn in Grozny
Published: 29 November 2005

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article329979.ece

Six years after Grozny was blasted to smithereens on
the orders of Vladimir Putin, the Russian President,
it was claimed that the separatist-minded people of
Chechnya now support the man who commanded the almost
total destruction of their capital.

Chechnya's Moscow-backed government said that a
majority of Chechens voted for Mr Putin's symbolically
named United Russia Party in the first parliamentary
elections to be held there since 1999, when Russian
troops entered the republic for the second time in a
decade.

Protected by hundreds of special forces troops, and a
wall of blast-proof concrete, Chechnya's Moscow-backed
president, Alu Alkhanov, was told by aides that
preliminary results from Sunday's election indicated
that United Russia garnered more than 60 per cent of
the vote with a turnout of a similar level.

Calling the elections "democratic, honest and
transparent", he dismissed accusations that the vote
was rigged and said the result showed Chechens wanted
democracy, stability and real improvement in their
lives. "Nobody could force the Chechen people to vote.
They participated freely and made choices of their own
free will." He said United Russia had done "huge work"
to make a difference to people's lives - hence its
victory yesterday.

The ministry where he was talking suggested, however,
that such work had barely begun. An enormous pile of
bricks that clearly used to be a large building was
piled up on one side while on the other vast low-lying
factories which Russian bombs had turned into
cavernous rusty cowsheds stretched for as far as the
eye could see. A bombed out Soviet-style apartment
block seemed like an unlikely prop for feel-good
propaganda but the authorities obviously had no
choice.

In the Finance Ministry opposite, Mr Alkhanov, a
former police officer, presented the election results
flanked by a dozen European politicians who had
observed the process.

When a journalist asked the politicians to give their
assessment of the vote, the microphone was cut and the
press conference terminated.

"We've been told we can't give our opinion about the
election," one observer said afterwards.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Separatists denounce 'farcical' Chechen poll

Nick Paton Walsh
Monday November 28, 2005
The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/chechnya/Story/0,2763,1652206,00.html

Chechnya voted for a parliament yesterday in the
Kremlin's latest attempt to pacify the war-torn
republic. The ruling United Russia party was expected
to win a majority in the first parliamentary election
since Russian troops reoccupied the region six years
ago.
Analysts say the vote is aimed at cementing the power
of Ramzan Kadyrov, 28, the son of the assassinated
president, Akhmed Kadyrov. After casting his vote, Mr
Kadyrov told the Interfax news agency that the
once-separatist republic was "evolving into a fully
fledged member of the Russian Federation".
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More about Chehnya at:
http://www.islamawareness.net/Persecution/Chechnya/