Freedom House Criticizes Russian Elections

Freedom House, an independent, nongovernmental organization that supports the expansion of global freedom, has issued a new statement on the recently held Russian elections. The release, titled "Russian Elections Lack Legitimacy; Meaningful Political Competition Absent," is harshly critical of the electoral process and the United Russia Party, and is available on the Freedom House web site.

In the statement, Freedom House says that the United Russia Party, which is heavily supportive of the Russian government's policies and is staunchly pro-Kremlin, won substantial parliamentary election victories due to "patently unfair and non-competitive" procedures. The way in which the elections were conducted, Freedom House says, is cause for questioning the electoral outcome. The United Russia Party garnered nearly two-thirds of all votes cast.

Freedom House called the entire election questionable, citing restrictions on the media, opposition parties, and freedom of assembly. Additionally, the statement says, government resources were reportedly used in support of the United Russia Party.

Freedom House executive director Jennifer Windsor says, "The stark deterioration of political rights in Russia has resulted in a system where no opposition force can play by the rules and compete for political power. In addition to short-changing ordinary Russians through this rigged process, these zero-sum politics are a prescription for instability."

The statement reports that the Russian government placed limitations on international observers, resulting in an electoral process that could not be carefully analyzed. Freedom House says the imposed limitations caused the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, part of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, to withhold its election observers from the electoral process.