Putin urges fair vote but rejects rerun calls

RUSSIAN Prime Minister Vladimir Putin yesterday said the March election, in which he will seek to reclaim presidency, should be transparent and fair, but rejected demands from swelling numbers of protesters for a rerun of the fraud-tainted parliamentary election.

Putin’s United Russia party barely retained its majority in the December 4 election despite alleged vote-rigging in its favour. Tens of thousands have protested since, urging an end to Putin’s rule, including a Moscow rally last weekend that was the largest show of discontent since the Soviet collapse 20 years ago.

Putin, who was president from 2000 to 2008 and remained the country’s most powerful figure after switching to the premier’s seat, has responded to the protests by offering to ease his rigid controls over the political field. At the same time, he has sought to cast protesters as Western stooges working to weaken Russia.

During a meeting with supporters yesterday, Putin dismissed the opposition as lacking a goal beyond fomenting turmoil, accused its leaders of trying to delegitimise elections and said they have not proven their worth.

“The problem is they lack a consolidated program, as well as clear and comprensible ways of achieving their goals, which aren’t clear either,” said Putin, who became prime minister after term limits forced him to leave the presidency.

“They also lack people who are capable of doing something concrete.”

He again flatly rejected the demands for a rerun of the parliamentary vote, saying “there can’t be any talk about reviewing it”.

At the same time, he urged his supporters to ensure fairness of the presidential vote to prevent any possible criticism, and discussed details of his proposal to put web cameras at all polling stations.

“As a candidate, I don’t need any vote-rigging,” he said. “I want the election to be maximally transparent. I want to rely on people’s will, on people’s trust, and it makes no sense to work if it’s missing.”

Putin and his protege Dmitry Medvedev earlier rolled out a set of proposed political reforms intended to assuage public anger, including relaxing registration rules for parties and restoring direct elections of provincial governors.

But opposition leaders rejected the proposals, pointing out they would only affect the next election cycle years away.