Kasparov can’t contest Russian presidency

Steven Taylor blogs an AP report that Garry Kasparov can’t run for president. Other Russia can’t find a place to hold a nominating convention. Because Kasparov isn’t a registered party member, under Russian law, he has to be nominated in person.

So, no space for a meeting, no meeting. No meeting, no nominee.

Kasparov spent five days in jail last month for campaigning.

Duma Elections

Putin’s great farce of an election has come and gone. Unsurprisingly, United Russia (the most pro-Putin party) received more 64%, the Communist Party received approximately 11%, the Liberal-Democratic Party (read Fascist-Nationalist Party, also pro-Putin) received approximately 8%, and the Fair Russia (also, pro-Putin) received just over 7% clearing the threshold. Because of seat allocation rules, United Russia will receive more than the two-thirds of the seats in the Duma – more than enough to press through any changes to the constitution or otherwise.

I don’t have much to say about this farce, except that the world should call it that. Russia should be dismissed from the G-8, the OSCE, and other international organization in which being a democracy is a stated requirement. To not acknowledge this blatant abuse is to appease a petty dictator and his coterie of sycophants, permitting them to continue to strengthen their authoritarian system of governing over what is one of the strategically most important countries to US interests.

Lastly, anyone who thinks this election may have even had a hint of legitimacy, I submit two items. According to the Russian Central Election Commission website:

•  Chechnya – home of a violent separatist movement for more than a decade reported turnout of more than, by 7pm had a turn out of more than 92% and I’ve seen news reports with a final turnout number of 99% with 99% of voters in Grozny, the Chechan capital, voting for United Russia.
• Ingushetia Republic – another majority Muslim region with a significant separatist movement, also had turnout of more than 92% by 7pm with total final turnout listed at 98%.

The Other Russia blog has a detailed list of vote-fraud techniques employed during the election.

Why is Mr. Putin so scared?

Other Russia’s blog reproduces Garry Kasparov’s WSJ op-ed here. From rigging the election system to tossing out OSCE poll monitors, Putin has made December 2′s Duma elections as competitive as a US presidential nominating convention.

So why is Mr. Putin so scared if things are going so well? He is a rational and pragmatic person, not prone to melodrama. He knows the numbers, so why the heavy and heavy-handed campaigning if he knows he and United Russia are going to win? The answer is that he is very aware of how brittle his power structure has become. Instead of sounding like a Tsar, high above the crowd, he’s beginning to sound like just another nervous autocrat. As George Bernard Shaw wrote, “The most anxious man in a prison is the governor.”

Kasparov spent 5 days in jail this week for demonstrating. He leads The Other Russia, a conglomeration of opposition parties contesting next week’s parliamentary elections. Over the past few months, the situation for parties like Other Russia has gotten gradually worse – from an engineered voting system to prohibitive ballot access rules to outright repression.