September 03, 2007	Monday	Sha'aban 20, 1428

MOSCOW: For the three cartoon children on a new Kremlin website, democracy is as easy as ABC. But as Russia’s election season kicks off this week, real politics is more opaque and, critics say, less democratic — than ever.

The website, www.uznai-prezidenta.ru, takes a cute trio of kids on a virtual tour of the upcoming December 2 parliamentary polls and interactive lessons on Russian democracy.

“In the end, the winner is always the one who manages to persuade the majority in a fair fight, without resorting to insults, trickery or force,” reads a cheerful-looking notepad.

Tell that to President Vladimir Putin, critics say.

A decree signed on Sunday by the ex-KGB officer officially opens the campaign season.

But just three months before elections to the lower house of parliament and six months ahead of the March 2, 2008 presidential vote to replace Putin, critics say these political contests will be as virtual as any website.

“There isn’t a single political party or force that can take part in elections without the Kremlin’s blessing, so you can’t call that a competition,” said Masha Lipman, a political analyst at the Moscow Carnegie Centre.

“Real power is in the Kremlin, in a small circle around the president.” Putin loyalists argue the Russian political scene is thriving.

At least three parties are expected to clear the seven-per cent hurdle to win seats in the State Duma under rules of proportional representation. A one-party state is legally “impossible,” the head of the electoral commission, Vladimir Churov, stressed on Thursday.

Despite popular perception in the West that Putin may still defy the constitutional limit of two consecutive terms and remain in the Kremlin after March 2008, that seems sure not to happen.

The constitution “won’t be changed and he won’t stay on”, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisted to journalists last week.

But democracy remains a work in progress in a country that only 16 years ago ended 70 years of Communist rule, preceded by centuries of tsarist tyranny.

Each of the parties forecast to enter the State Duma — United Russia, A Just Russia, the Communist Party, and perhaps the Liberal Democratic Party —toes the Kremlin line to one extent or another.

Meanwhile, pro-Western liberal parties face electoral oblivion. None are predicted to pass the seven-per cent barrier, while new rules mean that even the few seats currently held by liberal independent MPs will vanish.

And regardless of Putin’s plan to step down in 2008, few expect anything approaching an open contest to decide his replacement. Whomever Putin endorses — probably around the time of the parliamentary poll, Peskov said — is all but guaranteed to win on March 2.

The claim of a “fair fight” promoted on the Kremlin’s colourful website might also surprise the likes of Putin critic and chess great Garry Kasparov, or ex-premier and presidential hopeful Mikhail Kasyanov.

They get near zero airtime on the three dominant television channels, while Putin supporters are shown at length.

Even basic campaigning is hard for outright opponents of the Kremlin.

Kasparov was detained this summer as he tried to fly to a rally, while Kasyanov last week reportedly was refused entry to the Yekaterinburg hotel where he planned to meet supporters.

Putin fans insist Russia has come a long way.

“Russia is in its 15th year of experiencing democracy. I wouldn’t say the democracy is fully developed, but it’s far more developed than in any other country in its 15th year,” said Kremlin-connected analyst Vyacheslav Nikonov at the Politika Foundation.

Nikonov estimated that no more than 10 per cent of Russians really oppose Putin, meaning that the pro-Kremlin parliament “reflects the real aspirations of the electorate”. Boris Kagarlitsky, an independent analyst at the Institute of Globalisation Studies, noted there is also little daylight between the major parties in many Western democracies, such as Labour and Conservatives in Britain, or the Democrats and Republicans in the United States.

Yet the difference here is that parties “lack independence.... They have to go to the presidential administration for instructions,” he said.

For now, the public shows little sign of caring. Russians are happy to have exchanged the tumultuous 1990s for an oil-fuelled economic boom under Putin.

“Society is totally apathetic and the Kremlin is happy with that,” Kagarlitsky said. “They need a Soviet-style electorate.” As the kiddies’ site says: “When the majority understands that they all have identical interests, there’s no need to argue any more.”—AFP