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| Caucasus |
| Russia suspends early voting in Chechnya |
| 2003-11-30 |
| A week before Russia’s parliamentary election, officials suspended on Saturday advance voting for troops in Chechnya, the country’s most problematic region fraught with separatist violence. Organising elections has always proved difficult in Chechnya, where 60,000 Russian servicemen remain subject to daily attacks in the Kremlin’s second post-Soviet drive to crush separatists. Separatism was a key issue in the 1999 election, held only months after Vladimir Putin, then prime minister, oversaw the return of troops to the region. The conflict later helped him easily win a presidential poll, but the fighting has dragged on, and voters this time show little interest in the conflict. The top electoral officer in Chechnya said the head of Russia’s Central Election Commission, Alexander Veshnyakov, had ordered a temporary halt to voting for countrywide party lists and Chechnya’s sole deputy in the State Duma lower house. "Veshnyakov called me last night and told me to suspend things," Abdul-Kerim Arsakhanov told Ekho Moskvy radio. "He was concerned about the number of servicemen and wanted to know why so many were taking part in advance voting." The number of Russian troops allowed to vote in Chechnya has been a sensitive issue in the region in the Caucasus range on Russia’s southern flank. Chechnya voted overwhelmingly in March for a new constitution to entrench the region within Russia. Voters then elected as regional president Akhmad Kadyrov, appointed by Putin to run Chechnya in 2000 and Kremlin favourite in the contest. Human rights groups and liberals say both ballots were subject to cheating and dirty tricks. Eight candidates are running for Chechnya’s Duma seat in the December 7 poll, six Moscow-based Chechens and two locals. Campaigning has been subject to the usual daily violence between Russian forces and armed separatists. Russian media reported on Saturday that gunmen had fired this week on a school due to house a polling station south of the regional capital Grozny, killing a policeman standing guard. In the same area, the head of a military construction team and his driver were reported to have been shot dead on Saturday. An activist for the pro-Kremlin United Russia party — which leads the opposition Communists in country-wide opinion polls — was reported shot dead earlier this week in southern Chechnya. United Russia is backing no candidate in Chechnya. Russian television showed pictures of Russian soldiers, due to be on assignment far from polling stations on election day, casting ballots in the presence of officers. Advance voting began on Saturday, just hours before being suspended. Arsakhanov told Ekho Moskvy that his electoral team was unaware of any violations of electoral procedures. "Maybe he (chief electoral officer Veshnyakov) has some information which we are unaware of and wants to investigate things fully," he said. "Perhaps voting will resume later today." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |