In an election tainted with controversy, Kremlin-backed former interior minister Alu Alkhanov was elected president of the war-torn Republic of Chechnya Aug. 29, receiving 74 percent of the total votes.
Movsur Khamidov, who received nine percent of the popular vote, came in second. His campaign has complained of fraud and the use of unjust voting methods by Alkhanov’s supporters. A spokesperson for Khamidov alleged that representatives of Alkhanov coerced voters at polling stations and stuffed ballot boxes with illegal votes.
Senior Elena Nechipo-renka, whose uncle is a high-ranking officer in a Russian intelligence agency, spoke negatively of the election. “There was something unclear about the elections,” she said. “It was, pretty much, predetermined.”
The governments of the United States and Great Britain have both expressed their dissatisfaction with the polling conditions. According to the BBC, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said that these elections “did not meet international standards for a democratic election.”
George Guo, a professor of political science, also expressed doubts about the role of democracy in the elections. He denied that elections alone are sufficient for a democratic government, noting that elections were held in Iraq during Saddam Hussein’s rule.
“If you have elections during wartime, there is no way that you’re going to have fair elections,” he said, dismissing the elections as a farce.
Some international observers were skeptical of the very idea of elections in Chechnya – a region marred with instability – before the establishment of peace.
Chechnya, which has a shortage of power and phone lines, is home to about a million people, three-fourths of whom are unemployed.
Election watchdogs also questioned the exclusion of leading opposing candidate, millionaire Malik Saidulla-yev, who was barred participation owing to minor technical error in his election registration.
The controversy over the election of Alkhanov has further angered rebel separatists, who are led by a former president, General Aslan Mashkadov. An unsuccessful suicide bombing at a polling station on the election day may have been a foreshadowing of future violence.
“An attack on the new president is likely,” Robert Duncan, a professor of political science, predicted. Rebel groups have assassinated four of the last five Chechen presidents. Alkhanov told The New York Times that his primary goal is to escape assassination.
Duncan pointed out that Alkhanov, who has expressed plans to bolster ties with Russia, may not strengthen democracy by acquiescing to the demands of rebel nationalists.
“Rebel agendas include instating a fundamental theocracy, which limits power to a few individuals,” he explained. “That is not democracy – is that any better than what the Russians have?”
He also noted that the rebels and Russians have resorted to violence to achieve their respective aims. “With all the sides, who knows what’s going to happen,” he said. “My heart goes out to the innocents in Chechnya that will have to ultimately pay the price.”
According to CNN, Alkhanov has pledged to bring in tax breaks to jump-start Chechnya’s stagnant economy, and to eliminate the corruption that has plagued Chechen reconstruction efforts.
Alkhanov replaced former president Akhmad Kadyrov, who was killed in a bomb blast in May.