Russia: A Last-Minute Overview of Pre-Election Blogging · Global Voices
This post is part of our special coverage Russia Elections 2011/12.
On Dec. 31, 1999, as Russians were celebrating New Year's Eve, a holiday that transcends religion and politics, President <PERSON> went on the air and announced that <PERSON> would be instated as acting President. Before signing off, he added: “I want to beg forgiveness for your dreams that never came true. And also I would like to beg forgiveness not to have justified your hopes.”
In the aftermath of the devastating apartment bombings that occurred in September 1999 and the launching of the Second Chechen War, Mr. <PERSON>'s sole platform for the 2000 Russian presidential election was counter-terrorism in the North Caucasus. Beyond that, Mr. <PERSON> refused to campaign or to join a political party. Nevertheless, he finished first among the 11 candidates with 53% of the vote – and the “Putin Era” began.
Twelve years later, Mr <PERSON>'s candidacy seems much more turbulent, as protesters took to the the streets alleging improprieties in the Dec. 2011 parliamentary elections. Still, polling data suggests that he is heading into Sunday's election with the support of the majority of the electorate.
Protesters hold a poster against the Russian Prime Minister and presidential candidate <PERSON> during a rally for fair elections in St. Petersburg, Russia. Photo by <PERSON>, copyright © Demotix (25/02/12).
For World Affairs Journal Blog, <PERSON> contextualized the March 4 election in a post entitled, “In Sunday's Vote, It's Putin Vs. Russia”:
On Monday, Polish composer <PERSON> was at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, attending a performance of <PERSON> opera Dead Souls. As the performance was getting underway, spectators noticed <PERSON> in the box and started booing. The legendary musician was bewildered, not understanding the reason for such hostility. 880
Only later was it explained to him that the audience mistook him for <PERSON>, the chairman of Russia’s Central Electoral Commission — to whom he indeed bears an uncanny resemblance.
As Sunday’s presidential election draws near, the public frustration with <PERSON> is becoming increasingly apparent. Over the weekend, thousands of Muscovites formed a human chain alongside the 10-mile Garden Ring Road — inspired by the pro-independence “Baltic Way” of 1989 — to protest <PERSON>’s return to power and demand free and fair elections. In St. Petersburg, thousands of people from across the political spectrum marched through the city center calling for “a peaceful revolution.” Attitudes to the regime are also being expressed in less political ways: a mock Channel One “news report” from the future showing <PERSON>’s arrest and trial in Moscow became an instant online hit, with five million views in one week. […]
<PERSON> of Sean's Russia Blog provided the background for the candidates running against Mr. <PERSON>:
[…] Indeed, the Russian presidential election has been anything but ordinary. Sure, the official cast of characters remains virtually identical to past contests, save a few additions. Communist Party stalwart, <PERSON> still plays the role of “loyal opposition in-chief,” the aging face of a Communist Party that has the organizational resources to actually present a political alternative to <PERSON>, but lacks the so-called “Leninist will” to adapt to present political conditions. Part of that adaption, however, would require dumping <PERSON> and forsake its aging electorate, something the KPRF mandarins and rank and file are still unwilling to do. Opposite <PERSON> is <PERSON>, another perennial “loyal oppositionist.” <PERSON> plays the harlequin in this grand performance, adding outrageous, comic relief to a show already thin on drama. In a way, <PERSON> reflects the whole process itself, a clown for a clownish spectacle. Then there is <PERSON>, the new addition to the cast. <PERSON> serves as a kind of <PERSON>-lite (since the real <PERSON> is less pliable and, well, in jail for the foreseeable future). An oligarch who “made” the bulk of his wealth in the “loans for shares” scheme that saved <PERSON> from defeat in the 1996 Presidential election, <PERSON>, unlike <PERSON>, not only understood the rules of the game, but also played them correctly. But the biggest question that has dogged <PERSON> is not his past, but whether he’s a Kremlin project or not. 384