International observers say Russian vote 'clearly skewed' for Putin

[News_Editor]

International observers say Russian vote 'clearly skewed' for Putin

2012-03-05 20:49:15 GMT+7 (ICT)

MOSCOW, Russia (BNO NEWS) -- Although voting procedures were generally followed during Russia's presidential election, there was evidence of fraud and campaign conditions were 'clearly skewed' in favor of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, international observers said on Monday.

According to data from Russia's Central Election Commission, approximately 65.3 percent of registered voters participated in Sunday's presidential election. With 99.4 percent of the votes counted, Putin is far ahead with approximately 63.74 percent of the votes. He is followed by Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov and self-nominee businessman Mikhail Prokhorov who won 17.19 and 7.84 percent respectively.

More than 200 observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) monitored Sunday's vote, describing voter's choice as limited. "The point of elections is that the outcome should be uncertain. This was not the case in Russia," said Tonino Picula of the OSCE. "There was no real competition and abuse of government resources ensured that the ultimate winner of the election was never in doubt."

In a preliminary report, the OSCE mission said all candidates were able to campaign unhindered but media coverage in Russia was clearly in favor of Putin. Newscasts on television stations covered the daily activities of all presidential candidates, but they were overshadowed by coverage of Putin's daily activities, both as prime minister and as a candidate.

"State-owned broadcast and print media complied with their legal obligations to allocate free time and space to the candidates," the OSCE said in its report. "However, contrary to the legal requirements, most free time was allotted outside of peak audience periods." In addition, self-nominated candidate Prokhorov received significantly less time and space than other contestants because Russian legislation also grants free airtime to political parties which nominated a candidate.

Half of free airtime on state-run media was dedicated to debates, which were unprecedented in Russian electoral history. But after Putin announced that he would not participate in the debates in person, other candidates also pulled out and instead assigned an authorized representative.

OSCE observers also noted several instances of critical comments about the authorities being cut from popular talk shows. "In addition, investigations were conducted by government agencies against journalists, media outlets or businessmen involved in funding independent media," the report said. "Such interference with the work of media was perceived by journalists and media experts to be a consequence of the increasingly open criticism of the government on some channels and newspapers."

According to OSCE figures, 'Channel One' allocated some 61 percent of news coverage to Putin while other candidates received between 9 and 11 percent of coverage each. Coverage of Putin, which included reports about his activities in the capacity of prime minister, was mainly positive while other candidates were mostly covered in a neutral manner.

But not only state-run media focused heavily on Putin's activities. According to the OSCE, private broadcast media outlets allocated between 69 and 88 percent of coverage to Putin, virtually disregarding the campaign activities of other candidates. In addition, private media outlets aired more than 25 documentaries which praised the achievements of Putin during his career as prime minister and president.

Russian newspapers also allocated more coverage to Putin, although Novaya Gazeta was the only newspaper to heavily criticize the prime minister and presidential candidate. Putin also wrote seven articles which were published in a different newspaper every week, outlining his long-term strategy for the development of Russia.

One of the complaints which were filed with Russia's Central Election Commission criticized the publication of these articles. But the commission dismissed the complaint, claiming they did not constitute campaign material within the definition on the Presidential Election Law because they did not contain a direct appeal to vote for or against any particular candidate.

On the election day itself, OSCE assessed the voting as 'good' and 'very good' in 95 percent of polling stations visited. "However, the process deteriorated during the count that was assessed as 'bad' and 'very bad' in almost one-third of polling stations observed due to procedural irregularities," the report said.

OSCE observers witnessed a number of irregularities such as group, proxy and multiple voting. In approximately 5 percent of polling stations visited, ballot boxes were not properly sealed. In addition, illegal campaigning was witnessed outside 4 percent of polling stations.

"There were also some indications of buses transporting groups of voters to vote at multiple polling stations, raising concerns about the mechanisms for adding people to the voter lists," the OSCE said in the report. Six percent of polling stations were overcrowded, undermining secrecy.

"In this election, candidates could not compete on an equal footing," said Ambassador Heidi Tagliavini, the Head of the Election Observation Mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), commenting on Monday's report. "Although the authorities made some effort to improve transparency, there remained widespread mistrust in the integrity of the election process. As a first step, all allegations of electoral violations need to be thoroughly investigated."

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