Observing Russia

"We do hope for the future presidential elections on March 2 that there will be an invitation to Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) observers in due time and in an appropriate way," EU Foreign Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said on Wednesday, Dec. 5.

On Sunday, Russia held parliamentary elections which handed a massive victory to the United Russia party backed by President Vladimir Putin.

Putin's constitutional term of office expires next year, but he is widely expected to use the party's strong position to find some way of keeping power. Sunday's elections were marred by allegations of systematic media bias, pressure on voters and harassment of opposition politicians.

But evidence confirming those allegations was hard to come by, as the OSCE -- the main body which oversees elections in Europe -- had cancelled a planned large-scale observation mission, claiming that the Russian authorities had refused visas to most of its staff.

Observers lament state media control

On Monday, those members of the OSCE who had been able to observe parts of the election said that it had not conformed to international standards of democracy. Russian opposition parties echoed the claims.

"Television coverage was monopolized by the ruling party," the OSCE's representative for freedom of the media, Miklos Haraszti, complained in a statement focusing on the media bias.

There were "several cases of harassment and violence against the independent media" which "contributed to the intimidating atmosphere," he said. "Monitoring by the Central Electoral Commission and the [non-governmental organization] Russian Union of Journalists showed a clear bias in favor of the ruling party candidates on the main television channels."

Combined coverage of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the government and the ruling United Russia party amounted to about 80 percent of all political coverage on national channels.

Haraszti said he had submitted to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov a list of incidents where media freedom had been violated during the election campaign.

List of violations sent as warning

The report should act as a reminder to Russia "of its commitment to guarantee a free and fair media coverage during elections," he said.

The findings "are an early warning in view of the March 2008 presidential election," Haraszti said. "I ask the new State Duma to ensure the right of the media to provide balanced and objective information."

The US, EU and Germany all joined in criticizing the elections and called on the Russian authorities to investigate the allegations of improper conduct.

But the Kremlin rejected all accusations, insisting that the elections had been free and fair and saying that foreign criticism was part of a US plot to tarnish Russia's image.