What was transparent was widespread fraud.
International monitors said yesterday that of 150 polling stations monitored, 34 were "very bad", and reports came in from across the country of multiple voting, stuffed ballots, and public-sector workers coming under pressure to vote for United Russia.Before the election, Putin's party wanted to exceed the margin of victory in the previous election. Even with rampant ballot stuffing, they couldn't get there.
I suspect that if the ballots were honestly counted, United Russia would have come in well under 50%. They'll boost their percentage to somewhat over 50%, so they can hold a majority in the Duma.
It was about as free and fair an election as the ones held in Chicago under Daley the First.
Especially amusing is how United Russia boosted their share of the Chechnyan vote... from 99% to 99.5% of the vote :). Then there was the township where 146% of the registered voters turned out to vote. Clearly in Putin's Russia being dead isn't a reason to deny one the right to vote early, vote often :).
ReplyDelete- Badtux the "Yeah, Chicago Rules" Penguin