The Scotsman, Tue 7 Oct 2003
CHECHNYA’S Kremlin-backed leader yesterday won a landslide victory in the presidential elections, prompting claims the vote was marred by a lack of rival candidates.
With more than three- quarters of votes counted, the acting president, Akhmad Kadyrov, had won more than 80 per cent of the ballot.
But the lack of independent observers and the withdrawal from the race of Mr Kadyrov’s two main rivals before the election have led some to question the ballot.
The election was widely criticised after two candidates who rated higher than Mr Kadyrov in early opinion polls disappeared from the ballot - one withdrawing to become an adviser to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and the other barred from running by the Chechen supreme court.
Six virtually unknown candidates ran against Mr Kadyrov, who was once allied with the rebels. Last night, NATO’s secretary-general designate, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, said the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), a human rights and democracy watchdog he chairs, had not been able to monitor the vote in Russia’s rebel region.
Mr de Hoop Scheffer - the Dutch foreign minister who will become NATO’s secretary general in December - said: "It is regrettable that in the run-up to the elections there was a lack of real pluralism among candidates.
"The absence of independent media as well as a continued climate of violence gives reasons for concern."
Mr de Hoop’s views were last night echoed by British government ministers who expressed "strong concerns" over the way the election had been conducted.
The foreign office minister, Bill Rammell, said it was imperative the new president worked to promote reconciliation, an open political process and human rights.
Mr Putin, hailed the high turnout - more than 86 per cent of the country’s 561,000 electorate - as proof of support for the Kremlin’s peace plan.
"The high turnout shows that people are hoping for a better life and positive changes in the life of the republic," he said.
Russian officials have promised Chechnya will have a high degree of autonomy after the election, but the specifics have yet to be determined. Stanislav Ilyasov, Russia’s minister for Chechen affairs, said Russian and Chechen officials would sign a treaty outlining the regional authority’s sphere of control by the end of the year.
Mr Kadyrov said he would ask the Russian parliament to renew an amnesty that was offered to rebels during the summer and expired in September.
He said 171 fighters had surrendered under the amnesty and that many of them were now serving in his security service, headed by his son, Ramzan.
Separatist guerrillas have dismissed the election as pointless and say the fight goes on to end Russian dominance and turn their homeland into an independent state.
And many Russian commentators have expressed doubts the election will bring a quick end to the bloodshed which has often spread far beyond Chechnya’s borders.
Timur Daudov, 35, who voted for Mr Kadyrov, said: "Hope is always the last thing to go. So we still hope things will get better." Asked why he voted for Mr Kadyrov, he replied: "From two evils you choose the one that is slightly better."
Tens of thousands have died in Chechnya since Moscow sent in troops in December 1994 to snuff out a drive for independence.
Well you're going to like this reply perhaps, because I am wondering if the election was fixed.