VOA常速英语2007年-European Monitors Say Russian Election Unfair

Election monitors from the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe say Sunday's parliamentary balloting¹ in Russia was unfair and failed to meet democratic election standards. VOA Correspondent Peter Fedynsky reports from Moscow.

European election monitors told a Moscow news conference that Sunday's parliamentary election was conducted in an atmosphere that seriously limited political competition. OSCE's Parliamentary Assembly President Goran Lennmarker pointed³ to President Vladimir Putin's campaigning on behalf of the ruling United Russia Party.

"The merging⁴ of the state and political parties is an abuse of power and a clear violation⁵ of international commitments and standards," he said. "The other point is that the media showed a strong bias⁶ in favor of the president and the ruling United Russia Party."

But President Putin says election results speak for themselves.

The Russian leader says the legitimacy⁷ of the country's parliament has been increased. He notes that 90 percent of Sunday's vote was cast in favor of parties to be represented in the new parliament as opposed to 70 percent on behalf of victorious⁸ parties in the outgoing parliament.

The head of the delegation⁹ from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Luc van den² Brande, acknowledges voters were free to vote. Nonetheless, he says the election violated the Code of Good Practice for the Council of Europe's 47 member nations.

"There is a very strong commitment that the public authority, first and foremost the presidency¹⁰, has to be in a neutral position towards party participation¹¹ in elections, media coverage¹² and financing of parties," he said.

Although he was not a candidate, President Putin's name led United Russia's party list. He also spoke¹³ frequently at the organization's rallies, which were aired on media that European monitors said were under almost total state control.

The observers also note reports of opposition¹⁴ harassment¹⁵, detentions¹⁶, confiscation¹⁷ of election material, voter threats, and potential misuse¹⁸ of absentee ballots¹⁹.

The OSCE's main monitoring group, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, declined to observe the election. It said Russian authorities did not issue visas in a timely manner, which made it impossible to judge key pre-election activity in a meaningful way.

Observers from Russia's post-Soviet neighbors in the Commonwealth²⁰ of Independent States and a ** monitor from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization concluded that the Russian election was free and fair.