KBR: parties admit inability to compete with "Edinaya Rossiya"

The opposition was unable to fight for the victory at the elections in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) without creating a strong coalition, the "Yabloko" Party has stated. The republic's leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) said that the ruling "Edinaya Rossiya" (United Russia) Party would not let any rival come close to it. The "Spravedlivaya Rossiya" (Fair Russia) Party treats the republic's election outcomes as untrue, since it had hoped to win the support of some 18-19% of the voters.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 18, at elections to the Russian State Duma, the voter turnout in the KBR made 90.11%.

In general, the elections passed smoothly; no complaints arrived in the Republic's Election Commission (REC) on the voting day, said Musa Djappuev, the REC's spokesman.

According to the REC, the "Edinaya Rossiya" won 375,945 votes (77.71%); the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) – 91,430 (18.90%); and the "Spravedlivaya Rossiya" – 10,090 votes (2.09%). Other parties received less than one percent of the votes.

Adam Medaliev, a candidate for a deputy of local self-government of the settlement of Nartan, Chegem District, from the "Yabloko" Party, was removed from Polling Station No. 314 during the vote count. According to his version, he was removed so that he could not witness the falsification of the totals.

Khakim Kuchmezov, the leader of the regional branch of the "Yabloko" Party, believes that his party has lost elections in the KBR, because the oppositional parties had failed to set up a political coalition and went to the polls separately. Besides, as he said, the "Yabloko" has no such financial support like other parties.

Mr Kuchmezov has also stated that the voting system in Russia should be changed radically; and electronic voting should be introduced with special measures aimed to exclude frauds.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.