Brussels, 09/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - At the invitation of the European Parliament, representatives from Russian political parties and organisations have expressed their concerns about democracy in their country, with just under a month to go until the presidential elections. One of the joint leaders of the Peoples Freedom Party, Mikhail Kasyanov, said that the presidential elections on 4 March, like the elections to the Duma last December, “will not be free or fair”. “Mr Putin intends to proclaim himself president and has decided on who his opponents should be”, added Ilya Yashin, a member of the Solidarnost movement.
The Permanent Representation of the Russian Federation to the EU adopted a confident tone and Vladimir Chizhov declared that “there are certainly many problems in our democracy, including the organisation of elections… we are trying to push things forward. There is no reason to believe that the current regime is attempting to abuse the administrative and electoral system to maintain power at parliament and at the presidency”. He also explained that “the Russian Federation will fulfil all its obligations to ensure the appropriate election observations take place”. Government promises did not, however, appear to convince Andrei Buzin, from Golos, very much. In his opinion, proposals made to the camera or promises of transparent elections are just a “smokescreen. Nothing is being done to ensure that the vote count is done legally and transparently.”
A deep crisis. Yashin warned that although the demonstrations were provoked by the falsification of the Duma election results, “we have also experienced other fraudulent practices by the government but it has never lost its legitimacy. The government's reaction has been complex… it is unable to satisfy the demands made by the citizens. Putin is leading the country towards a social confrontation.” “These demonstrations are being led by the middle class. It does not want a revolution but it is demanding that its democratic rights are respected… the expression 'free elections' must become a reality” added Kasyanov. He also said that “the Russian regime has lost all its democratic pretences, there is no independent judicial system, no free press and citizens have lost all hope of free elections taking place. Russia is not a democracy in the sense understood in the world at large.” (CG/transl.fl)