Were Duma elections fair and clean?
The Fair Elections Coordination Center’s (FECC) main conclusion drawn from observations of the 1999 State Duma elections is that what will be important in the upcoming presidential elections is not just who is elected, but how they are elected. Democracy is the power of procedure the procedure for coordinating the interests of the majority and the minority, the government and its opposition, the state and society. And even if there are forces in Russia who want to organize a one-candidate presidential election, the procedure by which this election takes place must not be violated. But judging by the results of the FECC’s investigations, it is precisely this procedure that is being violated in Russian election campaigns. The primary consequence is to form a widespread vision of Russian elected authority as illegitimate. The Fair Elections Coordination Center considers this a very dangerous trend. It could lead to social schizophrenia and ideas of using violence against state institution
