9 articles
13 May - 25 July 1998
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Wednesday, May 13, 1998
2 Bashkortostan Candidates Cry Foul After Poll Snub
By Valeria Korchagina
Two would-be challengers for the presidency of Bashkortostan are alleging
foul play after the Volga republic's elections
commission refused to register them for forthcoming presidential elections.
The removal of Marat Mirgazyamov and Rafis Kadyrov from the race comes
just days after the commission refused to register
another leading challenger, State Duma Deputy Alexander Arinin, and
means strongman President Murtaza Rakhimov will run effectively unchallenged
in the June 14 election.
Bashkortostan's Central Election Commission ruled last week that Kadyrov and Mirgazyamov could not be registered as candidates because checks had shown that some signatures on their nominating petitions were either falsified or obtained under false pretenses.
But Mirgazyamov, a former prime minister of Bashkortostan, said Tuesday
that the violations had been invented in order to give
Rakhimov a safe path to reelection. He said he had filed an appeal
against the ruling with the republic's Supreme Court.
"I almost expected this to happen. There is practically no opposition
to Rakhimov. All mass media is completely under his
control. There were five of his portraits in today's issue of [the
newspaper] Sovietsky Bashkortostan alone," Mirgazyamov said in a telephone
interview.
He added that police officers who made some of the checks on behalf
of the commission had intimidated voters. "The police went around the houses
over the May Day holidays, demanding documents and requesting the copies
of signatures. Of course
many got scared and withdrew their signatures," Mirgazyamov said.
Rafik Khazhipov, the head of Bashkortostan's presidential press service denied that the decision of the committee was in anyway influenced by the president. "I think it is just a matter of conscience in gathering signatures. And besides if they represent opposition they should have expected that the lists in their support will be thoroughly checked," Khazhipov said.
Bary Kinzyagulov, the chairman of Bashkortostan's Central Election Commission,
said he had acted in strict accordance with electoral law in excluding
Mirgazyamov and Kadyrov. The absence of complaints from voters disproved
claims that residents
had been pressured into retracting their signatures, he added.
He said it was unlikely the Supreme Court would rule in the plaintiffs'
favor. "It is all pointless," Kinzyagulov said in a telephone
interview Tuesday. With Arinin, Mirgazyamov and Kadyrov out of the
race, Rakhimov's only remaining challenger is Rif Kazakkumov, an ally of
the president and forestry minister in the republic's government. But Kazakkumov's
candidacy is widely seen as a ruse to comply with electoral law -- an election
is considered invalid if there is only one candidate.
Rakhimov was elected the president of Bashkortostan, a republic with a large Moslem population and which enjoys considerable autonomy from Moscow, in 1993.
The conflict over the registration of candidates is not the first incident when the president has come under fire for using strong-arm tactics. Earlier this year the authorities closed down the republic's only genuinely independent newspaper, Vecherny Neftekamsk, prompting criticism from human rights groups.
Nikolai Petrov, an expert on regional politics at the Moscow Carnegie
Center, said Rakhimov simply played safe in his
approach to the elections. "It was rather unnecessary for him, since
his rating is strong enough anyway. ... But it is alluring for any regional
leader to have 100 percent confidence in victory," Petrov said.
According to Petrov, official Moscow is unlikely to show any reaction
to the election affairs in Bashkortostan. "Moscow's
general position is to turn a blind eye to any elections violations
as long as regional leader is loyal," Petrov said.
Mirgazyamov said that if Bashkortostan's Supreme Court fails to reinstate him on the ballot, he will pursue the case in the federal Supreme Court.
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Tuesday, June 2, 1998
Bashkortostan Steps Up Poll Crackdown
By Chloe Arnold
The government of the republic of Bashkortostan has pushed
ahead with its crackdown on the opposition ahead of presidential
elections, closing down an independent radio station and arresting
about 100 people who took to the streets in protest.
Among those detained last Wednesday were the radio station's
head, who was still in jail Monday, and a would-be presidential
challenger, Rafis Kadyrov, who has been prevented from running
in the June 14 election.
In March, authorities closed down Vecherny Neftekamsk, the
Volga River republic's only genuine independent newspaper,
which had angered the government with its articles accusing
officials of corruption and civil rights abuses.
Conflict between the government and the Titan radio station began
last month, after Kadyrov and two other presidential hopefuls
were disqualified. In a news broadcast, station head Altaf Galeyev
urged listeners to take up arms against what he called
Bashkortostan's tyrannical regime. He also said he had renamed
the square outside his offices "Liberty Square."
The exclusion of the three opposition candidates means incumbent
President Murtaza Rakhimov will run virtually unopposed, with a
minor minister from his own government as his only rival.
Two weeks later, Galeyev was sent a letter informing him that he
lacked certification that his radio transmitters were located a safe
distance from residential areas, the licensing committee confirmed.
Although the station had been operating for two years without
certification, it was closed down last Monday.
Two days later, about 100 people, including Galeyev and
Kadyrov, barricaded the central street in Ufa, the republic's
capital, in protest. They carried banners calling for freedom of
independent radio stations "so that they can tell the truth about the
government's heinous activities."
But within minutes of their closing off Ulitsa Karl Marx, police
arrived at the scene and began arresting the protesters. At this
point, Galeyev fired two shots into the air from an air rifle.
"Galeyev is still being held," Kadyrov said in a telephone interview
Monday. "Most likely, they will keep him locked up him until after
the elections."
Galeyev, who was being held in isolation, is accused of criminal
behavior and hooliganism, the republic's prosecutor said. All the
rest of those detained were released by Saturday.
The arrests met with outrage from human rights watchdogs.
"Unfortunately, this is becoming a very familiar feature," said
Diederik Lohman, director of the Moscow office of Human Rights
Watch. "Little fiefdoms within the Russian Federation are building
up increasingly authoritarian regimes."
But Lohman put the blame on the Kremlin. "We have seen the
same thing in Tatarstan and in Kalmykia," he said. "The
government blames local authorities for these human rights
infringements. But in the end it is federal authorities who should
bear responsibility."
Kadyrov is appealing the decision blocking his candidacy. The
local election commission refused to register him and two other
would-be candidates, saying that signatures on their nominating
petitions were forged or obtained under false pretenses. The
candidates accused police of intimidating their supporters into
retracting their signatures.
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Tuesday, June 2, 1998
INSIDE RUSSIA: Russia Ignores
Bashkortostan At
Own Peril
By Yulia Latynina
Presidential elections will be held on June 14 in the republic of
Bashkortostan. The incumbent, Murtaza Rakhimov, will have only
one rival at the elections: Forestry Minister Rif Kazakkylov, who
has had no other political experience. The other candidates -- the
former chairman of the Council of Ministers, Marat Mirgazyamov,
State Duma Deputy Alexander Arinina and former chairman of the
Vostok bank, Rafis Kadyrov -- have thus far been disqualified.
The signatures they gathered have been declared invalid.
One student from Bashkortostan State University who gathered
signatures for opposition candidates wrote: "On May 2 around 20
policemen ... came to the countryside to check the authenticity of
the signatures for Arinina. They went into each home and forced
everyone to account for their signatures. The kolkhoz chairman ...
came to our home and threatened my father that he would be fired
from work. He also asked me where I studied ... and then said I
would be thrown out of the university." During this time the tax
police visited Mirgazyamov's factory and froze the accounts.
Rakhimov treats the opposition as an Eastern khan would rebels.
In 1993 his main rival for president was Kadyrov. "During the
elections I had 85 trusted people working for me," Kadyrov told
me. "They all lost their jobs. In the 17 regions in which I won, the
heads of administration were fired. The directors at factories in
which I held meetings were removed from their duties." In 1993
Kadyrov did everything he could to become another Kirsan
Ilyumzhinov, president of Kalmykia, and convert money into
power. But he still lost.
Rakhimov has long since mastered the art of getting the election
results he wants. In 1996 the overwhelming majority in the
republic voted for Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov for
president in the first round and President Boris Yeltsin in the
second. While the obstinate head of the local administration
threatened to turn off the electricity, ballots in support of Zyuganov
floated in the river.
Among the Russian republics, Bashkortostan is most like a Central
Asian khanate. The majority of opposition figures have either
emigrated to Moscow or are in prison on criminal charges. The
heads of the regional administrations are not elected, as throughout
Russia, but are nominated by the president of the republic. The
economy is under the control of the president's family. The oil
sector is headed by his son Ural Rakhimov, deputy general
director of Bashneftekhim. The bank that the local government
authorized to handle the republic's public funds is Bashkreditbank,
which is tax exempt and headed by the nephew of Rakhmonov's
wife. The Committee on State Control (an institution with no
analogues in the whole of Russia) makes short work of its enemies
and enjoys the complete submission of its friends.
Moscow's failure to act can be understood. It sees candidates that
are capable of opposing Rakhimov but not the regime itself. Little
would change if Kadyrov or Mirgazyamov were to win other than
the head of the republic. Still, I cannot help thinking that the
Bashkir (or the Tatar and Kalmyk) example can be infectious, and
a country that tolerates on its territory a Paraguayan- or Tajik-type
regime will itself sooner or later turn into a khanate.
Yulia Latynina is a staff writer for Expert magazine.
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Thursday, June 11, 1998
Bashkortostan Chief Set to Sweep Election
By Chloe Arnold
UFA, Bashkortostan -- President Murtaza Rakhimov rules his
republic with a firm hand.
When newspapers run stories about corruption in the government,
he has them closed down. When last month a radio station called
for a more democratic regime in Bashkortostan, its head was
arrested and locked up.
Rakhimov's son controls the republic's oil industry. His wife
controlled oil exports until she retired two years ago, and her
nephew heads the largest bank, which is exempt from tax.
This Sunday, the people of Bashkortostan, a Russian republic of
about 4 million inhabitants, most of them Moslem, go to the polls
to vote for their president. But judging by the lack of campaign
material for any rival candidates in this city just west of the Ural
mountains, the result is a foregone conclusion.
On the flight from Moscow, stewardesses hand out brochures
about the republic. Rakhimov's face, with the words
"Bashkortostan is my destiny," emblazoned across his nose, stares
out from every page. The only election posters in Ufa, the capital
of the republic, urge citizens to vote for Rakhimov. Even the graffiti
at the local construction sites read "Murtaza -- we're behind you
all the way."
Last month, the Central Election Commission removed the names
of three rival candidates from the electoral register. The official
justification was that petitions submitted in support of the
candidates contained fake or improperly obtained signatures.
Although all three have lodged appeals in Moscow, at the
moment, just two candidates remain in the running -- Rakhimov
and a minor minister in his own government. Most observers agree
that Rif Kazakkulov, Bashkortostan's timber minister, is running
only to create the illusion of a competitive election.
"I don't care how many candidates I am up against," Rakhimov
said Wednesday. "I am still going to win. People know in their
hearts whom they are going to vote for. Let that be enough proof
that I shall continue to be president."
Despite the lack of competition, Rakhimov on Wednesday went to
campaign in the town of Yazykova, an hour's drive from Ufa, and
to open the newly built Palace of Culture.
"Dear people of Yazykova," he said to the crowd of 500. "Let me
tell you how well the republic's economy is doing. The oil industry
is booming; agriculture is on the up and up. In three years' time,
every home in Bashkortostan will have a telephone; every road
will be asphalted."
The speech was met by silence, broken only by a police officer,
one of almost 100 circling the crowd, who ordered an old man to
keep back.
Next on the floor was former Prime Minister Viktor
Chernomyrdin, an old friend, who had flown to the republic to
pledge his support for the president.
"Here is a man who not only knows what needs to be done, but
how to do it," he said. "I implore everyone in this town to vote for
Rakhimov, an honest and worthy leader. This is the man the
republic needs."
"Of course I am going to vote for Rakhimov," said Nellya
Sultanova, a pensioner, after the speeches. "He pays our pensions,
we have food to eat, and the republic is not so poor. What more
can we ask for?"
Young people, however, were less convinced. "What other choice
do we have?" said Regina Gafarova, 17, who sells cheese in a
local shop.
But when asked about the three candidates who have been barred
from the election, she looked surprised. "No one told us anything
about that," she said.
Earlier in the day, Rakhimov cut the ribbon on a
gallstone-dissolving machine at the Kauchuk hospital in
Sterlitamak, the republic's second-largest city, 200 kilometers
south of Ufa.
Before he arrived, local police cleared hospital workers from the
yard. "The president is a fraud," said one man before he was
hustled away by two police officers.
Another, who gave his name only as Alexander, said he had
wanted to vote for Marat Mirgazyamov, the former prime minister
of the republic who was one of the threecandidates struck off the
ballot. "But our bosses forced us to sign for Rakhimov. Otherwise,
they said, we would lose our jobs. We haven't seen our wages in
six months, and they call this a democracy."
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Friday, June 12, 1998
Bashkortostan Election a One-Horse Race
By Chloe Arnold
UFA, Bashkortostan -- Despite an eleventh-hour attempt by
Russia's Supreme Court to force a fair election, it appeared
Thursday that only the names of incumbent President Murtaza
Rakhimov and one of his cronies will be on the ballot when voters
go to the polls Sunday to elect a president.
The Supreme Court has ruled that two of Rakhimov's opponents
-- Alexander Arinin and Marat Mirgazyamov -- were struck off
the ballot illegally and should be reinstated immediately.
But the Bashkortostan election committee refused Thursday to
reinstate Arinin and said it had unearthed new evidence of voting
irregularities by Mirgazyamov's camp that may disqualify him from
taking part. By late Thursday night, the commission had still not
put Mirgazyamov's name back on the ballot.
"By law, I am 100 percent legitimate," Mirgazyamov said as he
waited with a crowd of journalists outside the commission's offices
Thursday. "But Rakhimov has these people under his thumb. They
make the rules up as they go along."
As things stand, Rakhimov's only rival in Sunday's election will be
a minister in his own government, Rif Kazakkulov. He is entirely
loyal to the president and, aside from being timber minister, has no
previous political experience.
Last month, the election committee of this mostly Moslem
semi-autonomous republic, 1,200 kilometers east of Moscow,
declared that signatures on nomination ballots for State Duma
Deputy Arinin, former prime minister of the republic Mirgazyamov
and Rafis Kadyrov, a former banker, were invalid.
"The Central Election Commission ruled that signatures had been
collected in an underhanded way," a spokesman from the
committee said Thursday. "In some cases, those collecting
signatures gave the impression they were Rakhimov-supporters. In
other cases, they forced people to sign under pressure."
All three have appealed the decision in Moscow.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled that Mirgazyamov was
struck off illegally. However, at a news conference Thursday, the
committee said that they had just received a new batch of letters
from citizens saying that their signatures had been forged on
Mirgazyamov's petitions.
The election committee said it did not have time to check if the
letters were authentic before election day because the people who
sent them lived in remote villages.
Last week Arinin, a long-time opponent of Rakhimov, ran into the
same problem. The Supreme Court ruled that he be re-instated.
But three days later, the electoral committee in Ufa,
Bashkortostan's capital, announced that Arinin had violated an
obscure financial regulation.
"It was discovered that Arinin had been using money from the
electoral fund to run his campaign before he was registered," said
the commission's spokesman.
"In Arinin's case, it was less a question of breaking the rules than
of politics," said Sergei Fufayev, Arinin's campaign organizer.
"They were looking for any old excuse to throw Arinin out," he
said. "It didn't take them long to find one."
The Central Election Commission in Moscow, to which the Ufa
commission answers,gave no sign Thursday that it was planning to
intervene. A spokeswoman said a working group had been sent to
Bashkortostan "to assist in preparations for Sunday's elections" but
declined to say what action they might take.
The mood in Ufa Thursday was one of resignation. "What are we
supposed to do?" said Antonina Gershova, a teacher. She said
that along with every other teacher in her school, the director
forced her to put her signature on Rakhimov's electoral list.
"Even if we spoil our ballot papers Sunday, or don't vote at all,
they will fix the count. There is no way out. Rakhimov will certainly
be president again."
Valentina Zhukova, too, said she is beginning to lose hope. Ten
years ago, she lost her only son in the army and is now president
of the Ufa branch of the Soldiers' Mothers Committee. When last
month authorities closed down the Titan radio station, which
broadcast interviews with opposition candidates, she joined
crowds on Karl Marx street, in the center of Ufa, calling for
freedom of speech.
"It was a peaceful demonstration of about 60 people," she said.
"We wanted to raise the Russian flag over the Titan offices, to
show that one building in Ufa at least represented democracy."
But within minutes, she said, bus loads of police cordoned off the
area and started arresting people. "There was a whole regiment
there, about 700 police officers," she said. "Then I noticed that
they were taking gas into the Titan offices, and I knew they were
going to use it to make the employees look like drunks or drug
addicts. I lay under the wheels of a police car and told them to
stop. I have lost my son. What more did I have to lose?"
Zhukova was taken to the police station with the rest of the
demonstrators and locked in a dark cell. "They took off most of
our clothes and would not let us go to the toilet. They kept us in
those conditions all night," she said.
"With readily available forces like that in the republic, there is very
little hope that the situation will change."
A small number of people are still trying to boycott the sham
elections. Fufayev, in the Arinin camp, said, "In the case of
Rakhimov's winning the election with no other real candidates
running against him, we will call for the results to be annulled." He
added, "These elections are totally undemocratic, and someone
has to put a stop to that."
But others are less convinced. "What is important to understand is
the strength of the bureaucratic pyramid in the republic," said
Xavier LeTorrivellec, a French political scientist who has lived in
Bashkortostan for the last three years.
"In the end, the people have no choice," LeTorrivellec said. "The
system is too strong for them. Whether or not there is an
alternative candidate on Sunday, they will have to vote for
Rakhimov."
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Tuesday, June 16, 1998
No-Nonsense Leader Re-elected in Bashkortostan
By Chloe Arnold
Murtaza Rakhimov was comfortably elected president of
Bashkortostan for a second term over the weekend. But for the
man who dreams of being more popular than Moscow Mayor
Yury Luzhkov, it was not the landslide victory he had hoped for.
Opponents took heart from the result, saying the relatively large
numbers of voters who boycotted what was widely seen as an
unfair election Sunday, showed that dissent against Rakhimov's
strong-arm methods is on the increase.
According to the election committee in Bashkortostan, a mostly
Moslem semi-autonomous republic at the foot of the Ural
Mountains, 70.2 percent of the vote went to Rakhimov, while Rif
Kazakkulov, the republic's timber minister, trailed in with just 9
percent. The turnout was high, with 69.8 percent of registered
voters making it to polling stations Sunday, easily surpassing the
50 percent needed for the elections to be valid.
But in Ufa, only 53.4 percent of the electorate turned up to ballots,
barely half of them voting for the president. Rakhimov received
50.8 percent of the vote and Kazakkulov 8.8 percent, but an
unprecedented 34.6 percent voted against both candidates.
Last month, the local election committee barred three of the five
presidential candidates from running in the election, saying
signatures they had collected for their nomination petitions were
falsified. Although two of the candidates successfully appealed
their elimination in the Supreme Court in Moscow, the election
committee cited further violations and refused to re-register them.
Kazakkulov, on the other hand, is fiercely loyal to the president
and has political experience outside the Timber Ministry.
Detractors view his participation in Sunday's elections as a ruse to
allow Rakhimov to comply with federal election law. An election is
ruled void if there is only one candidate running.
"We intend to appeal the results of this sham election to the
Supreme Court of the Russian Federation," said Sergei Fufayev,
campaign manager for Alexander Arinin, a State Duma deputy and
one of the presidential hopefuls who was thrown off the ballot.
"By our calculations, more than 50 percent of the electorate in Ufa
voted against both candidates," he said. "But even if we go by the
official figures, it is easy to see that many people no longer trust the
president."
Fufayev added that there was a definite sea change in the
republic's capital. "Five years ago, no one would have dared to
oppose Rakhimov," he said. "But with three candidates kicked off
the ballot, they are feeling the weight of Rakhimov's iron hand."
Sooner rather than later, he warned, there would be
repercussions. "In Ufa, at least, people know these were not real
elections," he said. "They were a farce. And if earlier these people
were simply critical of the regime, now they may actually do
something about it."
But analysts in Moscow were more skeptical. "It is unlikely that
there will be a revolution following the results of this election," said
Nikolai Petrov, an expert in regional politics at the Moscow
Carnegie Center.
He added that the situation in Bashkortostan did not differ widely
from Tatarstan or Mordovia, semi-autonomous republics within
the Russian Federation where leaders with authoritarian traits have
free rein because they support the central government.
In the presidential elections in 1996, Bashkortostan voted
overwhelmingly for Yeltsin in the second round. Similar results
rolled in from the other republics.
"Like those other republics, Bashkortostan has a big and influential
leader with whom it is important for the central government to
keep good relations," Petrov said. "If a leader is strong enough,
the center cannot do anything about it. And in most cases, it isn't
even trying."
But he said he was surprised that the number of votes against all
candidates was so high in Ufa. "In light of this, the results do not
seem to have been falsified," he said. "This may be a sign of at
least some formal element of democracy in Bashkortostan."
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Tuesday, June 23, 1998
Republic Elections Decried
By Chloe Arnold
A candidate thrown off the ballot days before presidential
elections in Bashkortostan says he will challenge the results in
court, claiming they were falsified.
Alexander Arinin, a State Duma deputy, said Monday that he that
would seek a Supreme Court review of results showing Murtaza
Rakhimov, president of the semi-autonomous republic at the foot
of the Ural Mountains, re-elected with 70.2 percent of the vote
over sole opponent Rif Kazakkulov, who received 9 percent.
"We have grave doubts about the official election figures produced
by the Central Election Commission," Arinin said at a Moscow
news conference, citing reports from election observers in the
capital Ufa that official totals were way off.
"According to our observers, 13 percent of the electorate voted
for Rakhimov in Ufa and 9 percent for Kazakkulov," he said.
"That means that the vast majority of people voted against both
candidates."
Arinin and two other candidates were barred from taking part in
the June 14 election after the republic's election commission found
irregularities with signatures on their nominating petitions.
That left Rakhimov with only one opponent -- the republic's timber
minister, Kazakkulov, who local observers say is a supporter of
the president and ran only to give the elections a veneer of
competition.
The Supreme Court ruled that Arinin and another candidate had
been illegally struck off the ballot and should be allowed to run.
But the republic's election committee then cited new violations and
refused to reinstate them in time for the election.
Arinin has the support of prominent liberal politicians Yegor
Gaidar, leader of the Russia's Democratic Choice party, and
Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky.
But Nikolai Petrov, an expert in regional politics at the Moscow
Carnegie Center, said it was unlikely federal officials would alter
the outcome. "President Yeltsin has already congratulated
Rakhimov on his victory," he said. "I cannot see the Supreme
Court coming up with concrete results in Arinin's favor."
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Wednesday, June 24, 1998
Bashkortostan Chief Defends Poll Win
By Bronwyn McLaren
The newly re-elected president of the republic of Bashkortostan
on Tuesday dismissed allegations that he was behind the
disqualification of his two main rivals at elections last week.
Murtaza Rakhimov won a convincing victory in the June 14 poll,
returning for a second term as president of the republic of
Bashkortostan, a region of 4 million people just west of the Ural
Mountains.
But the results have been contested by three rivals who say
Rakhimov pressured the local election commission to strike them
off the ballot paper.
The Russian Supreme Court ruled a week before the elections that
Rakhimov's two main rivals, Alexander Arinin and Rafis Kadyrov,
had been struck off illegally. But the local election commission still
refused to re-register the candidates citing other irregularities. This
left as Rakhimov's only remaining opponent an unknown who was
a junior minister in his government.
Brushing aside protests at a press conference Tuesday in
Moscow, Rakhimov said the elections were completely fair and
the election commission had acted legally. "The elections went
well," he said.
Rakhimov said his two main rivals had been disqualified for
submitting fake signatures in petitions required to register as
candidates.
He said the 300,000 forged signatures were easy to detect
because Bashkortostan has a social security card system, the only
one of its kind in Russia. Each card bears the holder's signature
and can be checked against data bases at the Interior Ministry and
tax inspectorate.
Rakhimov also attacked his rivals for taking money from big
business, naming BashPrombank and SBS-Agro as two of their
campaign sponsors. Despite the controversy, Rakhimov was
inaugurated for a second term as president on June 20 and
President Boris Yeltsin has already offered his congratulations,
suggesting the Kremlin does not intend to lodge a protest.
Rakhimov said there was no chance of Arinin or Kazakkulov
being invited into his government. But he said he would be willing
to meet with them for talks.
"Arinin is a talented guy," he said. "And he has five years of
experience in the State Duma. He could be of great use in our
Federal Assembly."
Bashkortostan citizens should also expect no big policy changes
from Rakhimov. "I made no pre-election promises," he said. "I
only said I would continue on the course I have set in motion. We
need discipline and order."
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Wednesday, July 8, 1998
Activists Rally Against Bashkir Chief
By Valeria Korchagina
A small group of human rights activists staged a peaceful protest in
downtown Moscow on Tuesday to voice their fears about the
worsening human rights situation in the Volga republic of
Bashkortostan.
Andrei Babushkin, leader of the human rights organization Civil
Rights Committee, said the semiautonomous republic's president,
Murtaza Rakhimov, had infringed citizens' rights by closing down
independent media outlets and by winning reelection in an election
which Russia's Supreme Court had ruled unfair.
"Judging by the reports we get from human rights activists in
Bashkortostan, the number of human rights violations in the
republic seriously increased in the past six months," Babushkin
said at the protest, outside Bashkortostan's plush Moscow
mission.
"If we ignore these incidents like we already ignored them in
Moscow and elsewhere we will return to our glorious Soviet past,"
said Valentin Gefter of the Memorial human rights group.
Rakhimov was re-elected June 14, easily beating the only other
candidate, his own timber minister, Rif Kazzakulov. Three
opposition candidates had applied to run but the republic's election
commission barred them from participating saying that signatures
on their nominating petitions were forged or obtained under false
pretenses.
The would-be candidates accused the authorities of dirty tricks
and two of them, State Duma deputy Alexander Arinin and former
Bashkortostan Prime Minister Marat Mirgazyamov successfully
appealed to the Supreme Court to be re-instated. However, the
election commission claimed to have found new violations and
refused to register them on the ballot.
After Rakhimov's win, Arinin and Mirgazyamov lodged their
appeals again with the Supreme Court. Both hearings are set for
July 24. If the court rules in their favor they will have new legal
grounds to contest the legitimacy of the election.
The 30 protesters, who carried placards denouncing Rakhimov
and listened to speeches, also pointed to a threat to freedom of
speech in Bashkortostan.
In past few months, the authorities have closed down what human
rights activists say were the three last independent sources of
information in the republic, some 1,200 kilometers east of
Moscow. Two tiny opposition newspapers, Vecherny
Neftekamsk and Otechestvo, or Fatherland, have been closed
down this year.
And in early June, the authorities forced the Titan radio station off
the air. The closure came soon after the station, which broadcast
from Ufa, the Bashkir capital, gave air time to Mirgazyamov and
Arinin.
The authorities said all three were shut down for technical reasons,
but opponents say they were targeted because they criticized
Rakhimov.
"Titan is not a very strong radio station, neither Otechestvo nor
Vecherny Neftekamsk are famous newspapers, but it is a bit like if
you go to bed and there is only one mosquito buzzing in the room,
you will not sleep," Alexei Simonov, president of the Glasnost
Defense Foundation, told the protesters. "Well, now Rakhimov
can sleep well, there are no mosquitos left in Bashkortostan."
Simonov was skeptical that Tuesday's protest would have any
impact on the situation in Bashkortostan.
"It certainly will not have any effect on Murtaza Rakhimov, the
only use of such protests is to make sure people know that not
everything can pass unnoticed in this country," Simonov said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, July 21, 1998
Bashkir President Loses Court Ruling
By Chloe Arnold
The legal battle over the gubernatorial elections in June in
Bashkortostan took a new turn Tuesday when the Russian
Supreme Court ruled that the winner, incumbent Murtaza
Rakhimov, had acted illegally in bringing forward the date of the
vote by six months.
The judgement further complicates a dispute over the results of the
poll, which has been dogged by controversy since the regional
electoral commission struck three candidates off the ballot.
The elections for president of the mostly Moslem
semi-autonomous republic at the foot of the Ural Mountains were
won by incumbent Rakhimov with 70.2 percent of the vote.
About 20 of Russia's 89 regions are called republics and their
leaders bear titles such as "president" rather than the more normal
"governor."
Human rights' campaigners complained that the elections were
unfair because the local electoral commission, citing technical
breaches of electoral laws, barred three rival candidates from
participating.
Although two of the candidates appealed the decision to the
Russian Supreme Court and won, electoral officials still refused to
register them, citing other breaches of procedure.
On Tuesday, the elections were also challenged by two
communists, Renat Gabidulin and Valentin Nikitin, both
representatives for Bashkortostan in the State Duma, Russia's
lower house of parliament.
The deputies argued that Rakhimov had acted illegally by bringing
forward the date of the presidential elections by six months. The
deputies said Rakhimov, 64, had pushed for early elections to
avoid electoral laws that stipulate that a president cannot be over
65 when he takes office.
"As everyone knows, the elections held in Bashkortostan were
simply an illusion," Nikitin said Tuesday. "We are insisting that
Rakhimov broke the law by calling for an election six months
before his term ran out."
Yury Pilipenko, a lawyer for the regional Duma in Bashkortostan
who defended the case, said that a December election would have
clashed with the harvesting season. The Russian Supreme Court
dismissed this argument and ruled the elections were illegal.
Alexander Arinin, one of the candidates ejected from the electoral
register last month, was delighted at the ruling. "This is a very big
step for us, and for the people of Bashkortostan," he said. "In the
end, justice is going to be done."
But the decision is unlikely to have any immediate effect. In its
judgement, the Russian Supreme Court decided not to look into
canceling the election results, instead passing the case to the
Supreme Court in Bashkortostan.
Alexei Tetkov, an expert on regional politics at the Moscow
Carnegie Center, said this local court was unlikely to cancel the
election results.
"Arinin and the others do not have a realistic chance of fighting
against the results," he said. "In principle, the Supreme Court in
Bashkortostan is an independent body. But in practice, it tends to
be influenced by what Rakhimov himself requires."
The case is far from over, however. On Friday Arinin and Marat
Mirgazyamov, who was also barred from running in the election,
will appeal separate cases in the Russian Supreme Court relating
to their exclusion from the ballot. "I am confident of a victory on
Friday, too," Arinin said.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, July 24, 1998
Court Decries Poll In Bashkortostan
THE MOSCOW TIMES
Bashkortostan President Murtaza Rakhimov came under fire again
Friday when Russia's Supreme Court ruled two challengers had
been unlawfully barred from presidential elections.
But experts say there is little hope results from the vote in the
semi-autonomous republic at the foot of the Ural Mountains will
be overturned.
State Duma Deputy Alexander Arinin and the former prime
minister of the republic, Marat Mirgazyamov, were struck off the
ballot after the local election committee claimed they had violated
election procedures.
Although incumbent Rakhimov won a landslide victory June 14,
human rights activists have slammed the elections. Earlier this
week, the court ruled that Rakhimov had acted illegally by bringing
the election date forward six months.
But a lawyer who challenged the vote in the Supreme Court said
the rulings were unlikely to have any effect. "Arinin and
Murgazyamov will appeal to the Supreme Court in
[Bashkortostan], they'll throw the case out, and we'll all be back at
the Russian Supreme Court in September," Vladimir Voshinin
said.
© copyright The Moscow Times 1998