Parliamentary elections in the Caucasus

It has been a while since Russia and Europe saw such a great public reaction to Russian parliamentary elections. Foreign attention to Russia's internal politics intensified after Putin’s nomination to run for president. Some experts say that after that the parliamentary elections inevitably turned into a popular referendum, determining the level of ‘United Russia’s’ support. The Independent newspaper even said that Russians not only had to elect a new Duma, they had to show whether they are ready to support Putin once again or not.

The vote in the Caucasus was almost unanimous: the region supported ‘United Russia’. However, it is surprising how mediocre and incompetent the analysis of this fact by some of the Moscow and Petersburg experts is. They are based on the myth that the Caucasus is some foreign land, alien to all democratic values. The average summary of such an opinion is that “the Caucasian people vote just as they are told by their administration”.
These experts point out that 90% of the Caucasian people voted for the ruling party, while in central districts of Russia it got only 40%. However, they fail to see that the figure is correct only for two of the many Caucasian republics – Chechnya and Dagestan.
Let us try to conduct a deeper analysis of this ‘political anomaly’. I would advise all those who criticize the Chechen authorities to actually go there and see the situation with their own eyes. All these ‘experts’ have only heard some vague rumours of the horrors of the Chechen wars, but they have never seen the rebuilt city of Grozny, they’ve never seen the present revival of the republic. A peaceful and prosperous Chechnya is not a delusion or propaganda, it is real. And this prosperity is mostly due to the patient and consistent political course of the ruling party. Of course, sceptics would say: “they’ve destroyed it, naturally they had to do something to rebuild it.” However, that is not true – the destruction happened in the era of Grachev and Dudayev, while Kadyrov had to repair the damage with the help of Moscow. And the tormented people of Chechnya finally know peace now.
In North Ossetia a “United Russia’ candidate, Arsen Fadzaev, a two-time free-style wrestling Olympic champion, won the elections. He has no connection to the republic’s administration; his victory is due solely to his popularity among the people. Neighboring South Ossetia also voted for UR, as it is aware of the fact that its independence was finally won thanks to the support of the current Russian rulers. Let’s not forget that for now the North Caucasus and South Ossetia largely depend on economic donations granted by Russian leaders.

Even the foreign media recognizes that in Ingushetia the elections were held in a democratic manner. Even the ‘Right Cause’ party received a mandate there.  Yes, it is true that administrative resources were abused in this election campaign – but this problem is not exclusive to the NCFD. People all over the country, including Caucasian cities, protested against such violations during numerous rallies – sanctioned or unsanctioned.

There are still a lot of extremely urgent social and economic problems in the Caucasus, and it would be better if the government used its administrative resources to resolve them instead of trying to influence the elections’ outcome – this goes for all Russia’s districts, but in the Caucasus it has additional importance, as the factor of the militant underground still exists.

By Ismail Agakishiev, the Head of RSUH Caucasian Studies Center