Putin Wins: Surprise, Surprise

JP5 · #1 (**permalink**) 12-02-2007, 09:02 PM

"In Chechnya, where turnout was over 99 percent, witnesses reported seeing election authorities filling out and casting voter ballots in the suburbs of the regional capital, Grozny.

There was a tense, subdued mood at some polling stations. Yelena, a 32-year-old manager in St. Petersburg, refused to give her last name out of fear of official retaliation for voting for the liberal Yabloko party.

“We live in a country with an absence of democracy and freedom of speech,” she said."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22061094/

And just when we thought that Russia had changed.
Thank GOD, we live in America!!!

DuH2 · #2 (**permalink**) 12-02-2007, 10:55 PM

yeah really...

Heres a telling chunk of text..same AP article just a different source.

Quote:

The Kremlin portrayed the election as a plebiscite on Putin's nearly eight years as president - with the promise that a major victory would allow him somehow to remain leader after his second term ends next year.

Putin is constitutionally prohibited from running for a third consecutive term, but he clearly wants to stay in power. A movement has sprung up in recent weeks to urge him to become a "national leader," though what duties and powers that would entail are unclear.

Pollsters said United Russia's performance would give it an overwhelming majority of 306 seats in the 450-seat State Duma, or lower house. The Communists would have 57 seats.

Two other pro-Kremlin parties - the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party and populist Just Russia - also appeared to have made it into parliament, with 8.8 percent and 8 percent, respectively.

One Liberal Democratic Party deputy will be Andrei Lugovoi, a former KGB officer and chief suspect in the poisoning death of Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in London last year. Russia has refused to hand Lugovoi over to Britain, and the Duma seat provides him with immunity from prosecution.

No other parties passed the 7 percent threshold for gaining seats in the legislature. Both opposition liberal parties were shut out, predicted to win no more than 2 or 3 percent of the vote each.

Many Russians complained Sunday about being pressured to cast their ballots, with teachers, doctors and others saying they had been ordered by their bosses to vote at their workplaces.

"People are being forced and threatened to vote; otherwise they won't get their salaries or pensions," said Boris Nemtsov, leader of the liberal Union of Right Forces party.

Dozens of voters reported being paid to cast ballots for United Russia, said Alexander Kynev, a political expert with election monitoring group Golos. In the town of Pestovo in the western Novgorod region, voters complained they were given ballots already filled out for United Russia, he said.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20071203/D8T9LR000.html

(Now he is very popular in most of Russia and its in a manner not akin to Stalin or the Communists in General..more purely nationalistic and actual I liek you for you not I have to.
Russians traditionally like a "strongman"..Hell its Stalins name..

Make a deal with a demon becasue you fear the devil. For Russia that devil is world standing, territorial integrity, economy/standard of living/crime.

He like Stalin may be better for Russia by being in power then not.

But its probably going to get Chilly Willy!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=iZUaz2YPOio

Grond · #3 (**permalink**) 12-03-2007, 01:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JP5";p=&quot

"There was a tense, subdued mood at some polling stations. Yelena, a 32-year-old manager in St. Petersburg, refused to give her last name out of fear of official retaliation for voting for the liberal Yabloko party.

Yelena seems to be a dork. You can vote any political party you wish nowadays.

“We live in a country with an absence of democracy and freedom of speech,” she said."

Maybe, she lives in Russia of some other universe. People freely voted Yabloko, the Union of Right Forces, the CPRF or Liberal-Democratic Party.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JP5";p=&quot

And just when we thought that Russia had changed.
Thank GOD, we live in America!!!

You should know how funny slogans like "thank god, we live in America!" look out for the rest of the World.

It is like to wear white T-shirt with black logo "I am a Fool" and walk on a crowded street.

Daybreaker · #4 (**permalink**) 12-03-2007, 12:12 PM

I know I'm gonna get called a nut for this, but I'm one of those people that thinks that both the 2000 and 2004 elections were rigged for Bush.

Makes me wonder if any election anywhere has ever been real.

Bobcat1 · #5 (**permalink**) 12-03-2007, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grond";p=&quot

Quote:

Originally Posted by JP5";p=&quot

"There was a tense, subdued mood at some polling stations. Yelena, a 32-year-old manager in St. Petersburg, refused to give her last name out of fear of official retaliation for voting for the liberal Yabloko party.

Yelena seems to be a dork. You can vote any political party you wish nowadays.

“We live in a country with an absence of democracy and freedom of speech,” she said."

Maybe, she lives in Russia of some other universe. People freely voted Yabloko, the Union of Right Forces, the CPRF or Liberal-Democratic Party.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JP5";p=&quot

And just when we thought that Russia had changed.
Thank GOD, we live in America!!!

You should know how funny slogans like "thank god, we live in America!" look out for the rest of the World.

It is like to wear white T-shirt with black logo "I am a Fool" and walk on a crowded street.

Listen, Grond, if you are trying to make yourself believed, you would do well not to insult people just because they have a deep trust in the electoral process of their own country. I agree with JP5, and, as far as I'm concerned, you're the one wearing the T-shirt.

So, you have some evidence to support your claim, stronger than the AP service?

Grond · #6 (**permalink**) 12-03-2007, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bobcat1";p=&quot

Listen, Grond, if you are trying to make yourself believed, you would do well not to insult people just because they have a deep trust in the electoral process of their own country. I agree with JP5, and, as far as I'm concerned, you're the one wearing the T-shirt.
So, you have some evidence to support your claim, stronger than the AP service?

My apology to "deep trusting people". Strange, but I never heard something like "Thank God, I live here!" from people of say, Norway or Sweden.
Even my fellow Americans or Kiwis who live and work on Russian soil for some time laughed a lot reading scary MSNBC or BBC reports about "stalinist-style elections in Russian Federation". Perhaps because they can see certain things by their own eyes, without help of talking heads of Western media...

thedreamer · #7 (**permalink**) 12-04-2007, 01:33 AM

Funny thing was, Putin is very popular in Russia, and he'd probably have won anyway.
Just goes to show you the Russian mindset.

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