A Sham Election in Russia

Today, it is Harvard’s pleasure to welcome to campus Mikhail Gorbachev, who courageously led the Soviet Union out of communism when very few believed it was possible. For his undisputed contribution to ending the Cold War, Gorbachev remains a source of hope and inspiration. Unfortunately, the transition to democracy that he initiated in Russia is far from complete. The parliamentary elections that took place on Sunday, which cemented the power of the autocratic Russian President Vladimir Puttin, were nothing but a tragic comedy.

Putin’s party won the election—a run up to the presidential election to succeed Putin in title, but likely not power, next March—in a landslide. United Russia gained a projected 315 seats in the 450-seat Duma. By contrast, the Communist Party, which remains the largest opposition party will hold a paltry 57 seats.

The process was even more disturbing than the lopsided results. The state-controlled media, along with the police, courts and other elements of the government machinery, ensured that the final product would fulfill Putin’s desires and expectations. There is at least one video showing ballot boxes being crammed. The results, if they tell us anything at all, are only a washed out picture of reality.

After cracking down on NGOs, journalists, and opposition parties, Putin removed all doubt about his fondness for fraud when he barred international monitors from entering the country. Many Russian people trust Putin because their lives have improved under his Presidency, but they deserve free choice and a competitive system. Instead, Putin is building a system that will entrench his power for years to come.

As The Wall Street Journal reported last Friday, hundreds of people have complained–to the election-monitoring groups that have managed to remain in the country–that they were bullied by their employers to vote for United Russia (the party associated with the current president). Opposition parties have had their pamphlets confiscated and most have been ignored by the media. In a situation like this, the Russian people are reduced to pawns with very little free choice. When threats, indoctrination and dishonesty are allowed to flourish, even a fake democracy loses the ability to maintain its disguise.

The events of the past week would be absurd but, tellingly, they did not shock many. President Putin, hiding in the Kremlin and protected by favorable public opinion, has had a crucial opponent arrested for taking part in a demonstration. The timing could not be better: With well-known chess grandmaster turned democracy advocate Gary Kasparov behind bars in the run up to the election, Putin had one less annoying figure to worry about.

Kasparov, of course, knows that a rigged match cannot be won. But he has tried nonetheless, ignoring the arbitrary repercussions that would follow his political activism. His devotion to truth and determination to alert the world to the rotten state of Russian politics deserve our deepest respect. We can only hope that the sacrifice of his safety—and that of others like him—will be worthwhile in the long run.

Under Putin, Russia is bound to continue to distance itself from the rest of the democratic world. His cronies have been skillfully exploiting anti-Western sentiments, and they have little interest in a well-functioning, transparent Russia. Yet we are hopeful that the country’s broken democracy has not yet reached an endgame. Although there are only crooked pieces on the board, Russia might have, thanks pro-democracy advocates like Kasparov, a brighter, Putin-less future one day.