Complaints of Fraud And Ballot Stuffing (Putin)

[hedgetrimmer]

link:http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2003/12/08/011.html

Monday, Dec. 8, 2003. Page 03

Complaints of Fraud And Ballot Stuffing

By Catherine Belton and Timur Aliev
Special to The Moscow Times From suspected vote rigging in Chechnya and alleged stuffed ballot boxes in Kirov to disappearing election committee stamps in Tuva, observers from opposition parties said a slew of violations tarnished the elections Sunday.

The head of the Communist Party's legal department, Vadim Solovyov, said the party's team of 200,000 observers had toted up a litany of apparently fraudulent voting schemes and had passed on its evidence to international monitors. He said the party had called on prosecutors to open criminal investigations into several alleged violations.

But Central Elections Commission chief Alexander Veshnyakov said the vote appeared to have passed "without excesses," while independent monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe still faced a check of ballots through the night and were saving their conclusions for a news conference Monday.

In Chechnya, some observers claimed ballot stuffing doubled voter turnout to more than 70 percent.

"At this polling station only 200 people voted, or about 10 percent," said Ruslan Khadashev, an observer for single-mandate independent candidate Salambek Maigov. "I don't know where they got 70 percent from."


... more ...

related links...

Reports Confuse Would-Be Voters (Dec. 08, 2003)
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2003/12/08/014.html

Singular TV Diet on Election Day
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2003/12/08/012.html

Putin poised to create 'police state'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=257075

[Wonk]

1. Russian bad-boy politician has strong showing in parliamentary elections

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/12/07/international0152EST0423.DTL

The court jester of Russian politics, Vladimir Zhirinovksy, has led his nationalist party on a surprisingly strong comeback in parliamentary elections with his unique mix of bad-boy behavior, populist politicking -- and support for the Kremlin.

Zhirinovsky's misnamed Liberal Democratic Party more than doubled its share of the votes compared to the 1999 election, according to preliminary election results and exit polls from Sunday's vote. As the ballot counting continued Monday, the party was in a tight race with the Communists for second place -- behind the biggest winner, United Russia.

"I am speaking in the name of millions," Zhirinovsky declared on independent NTV television, looking every bit the attention-grabber in a bright red shirt and loud tie. "The voters spoke .... and if you don't like it, then leave."

The flamboyant leader -- who once advocated retaking Alaska, suggested polygamy as a way to solve Russia's population decline and never hesitated to throw a punch when angry -- shocked the world in 1993 by capturing nearly a quarter of the national vote in parliamentary elections.

more...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/12/07/international0152EST0423.DTL

:shrug:

I figured I'd post it here instead of starting another LBN thread because it's related...

I don't know what to make of this yet :shrug:

[seemslikeadream]

2. Vikant Corp., owned by Alex Kantarovich of Minsk, Belorussia

supplied the control cards to ES&S. When The SPOTLIGHT inquired where Vikant cards are produced , Kantarovich said, "I cannot disclose where the cards are made," but admitted that they are not made in America.

Kantarovich told The SPOTLIGHT that he has been in America for 11 years but declined to discusss his employment prior to running Vikant Corp., saying, I don't want to disclose that informtion."

Kantarovich said he had obtained his degree in the Soviet Union and initially refused to answer questions about how his product was chosen for the ES&S voting equipment.

http://www.voxpolitics.com/weblog/archives/000186.html

A bit more about Kantarovich

Alexander Smolensky, the infamous financier who presided over the largest bankruptcy in Russian history, the collapse of SBS-Argo, and the told his foreign creditors that they deserved nothing "but dead donkey ears," sold what remained of his banking business Monday to fellow original oligarch Vladimir Potanin's giant holdings Interros.

"This is a well-timed move," said Alex Kantarovich of investment bank Aton. "By 2005 to 2007 this market segment will be overcrowded."
http://www.aton.ru/en/news/publication.asp?id=5660&page=4&order=pubdate&type=publication

[truthspeaker]

3. watch this carefully, we're next

Almost all the TV news in Russia is controlled by the government. Investigations of vote fraud are buried by prosecutors loyal to the president. Sound familiar? I am positive that Bushco has been taking lessons from Putin's gradual and stealthy plan to re-institute a police state.