- MOSCOW -- Russians overwhelmingly
turned their backs on western-style democracy yesterday, voting for stability
and a strong hand at the helm by giving four more years in office to President
Vladimir Putin.
-
- In an extraordinary - if widely predicted - result, the
former KGB agent crushed his closest rivals by securing 68 per cent of
the vote, according to preliminary exit polls.
-
- His nearest challenger, the Communist Party candidate,
Nikolai Kharitonov, was in second place on 14.3 per cent.
-
- Eve-of-poll fears that turnout might dip below 50 per
cent and force a fresh election evaporated as a huge official effort to
get voters to the polling stations paid dividends.
-
- Mr Putin voted in Moscow with his wife, Lyudmila, yesterday.
In an effort to dispel complacency among supporters, he said: "Voters
must understand the extent of responsibility when they make their choice.
Much depends on this election."
-
- The scale of the victory reflected the huge popularity
he has earned. Many Russians embrace his vision of a strong central authority
with few checks and balances.
-
- Since coming to power on the coat-tails of the Yeltsin
administration, Mr Putin has ordered the payment of overdue wages and pensions
and instilled a modicum of law and order. The economy has boomed. Average
wages have nearly quadrupled.
-
- He has also closed much of the independent media, locked
up or exiled Yeltsin-era tycoons who refused to fall in line and effectively
granted himself the powers of a tsar. Political enemies have been ruthlessly
dispatched.
-
- These abuses have led to criticism in the West. Colin
Powell, the US secretary of state, said yesterday: "Russians have
to understand that to have full democracy, of the kind the international
community will recognise, you've got to let candidates have all access
to the media that the president has."
-
- According to one analysis, in the first two weeks of
the election campaign Mr Putin received two hours 38 minutes of coverage
on state television against 22 minutes for all the other candidates combined.
-
- A western election observer said: "This is the strangest
election I've ever seen anywhere in the world. In any democracy you would
expect some competition."
-
- >From the beginning, it was clear that the election
would be a one-horse race. Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the ultra-nationalist
leader of the inappropriately named Liberal Democrats, and Gennady Zyuganov,
the veteran Communist Party leader, decided not to stand, appointing minions
instead.
-
- Among the other candidates, one, Ivan Rybkin, disappeared
and then resurfaced days later in Ukraine after apparently being videotaped
in a sexually compromising situation. Another said from the outset that
he supported Mr Putin.
-
- The only serious rivals were Sergei Glazyev, a maverick
nationalist, and Irina Khakamada, who promised to end corruption and state
abuses. Last night Mrs Khakamada was due to meet friends in a Moscow restaurant
to toast the end of democracy in Russia.
-
- In a pre-election interview with The Daily Telegraph,
she said: "I supported Putin for the first two years. I thought he
was a liberal president. But then he began to surround himself with security
officers and persecute his enemies. Putin is not a democratic leader, except
perhaps in a Chinese sense."
-
- Some young Russians echoed her views. Dima Suzdalyev,
27, said: "We haven't got democracy here and we'll be lucky if we
get it in 100 years. I don't like Putin - how can I like a KGB man."
-
- But most said democracy was not a priority. Natalya Petrova,
27, said: "The economy is what matters to us, who cares about democracy?"
-
- Andrei Abramov, 46, who earns 60p an hour wearing a billboard
in Moscow, said: "Putin is the only one. He's got this country working
again. He's young, energetic and understands ordinary people."
-
- © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004.
-
- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;$sessionid$LCUJEZGJLY1XD
QFIQMGCFFOAVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2004/03/15/wruss15.xml&sSheet
=/portal/2004/03/15/ixportaltop.html
|
