| On Wednesday the lower house voted to elect its
representatives to the Central Election Committee. The routine procedure
of electing new members led to a completely unexpected alliance
between the liberal Yabloko leader Grigory
Yavlinsky and the head of the ultra-nationalist LDPR Vladimir
Zhirinovsky, which helped Yabloko's candidate keep her post in the
CEC. The support of the pro-presidential factions also made Yabloko's
victory possible, and was a slap in the face for the SPS.
Earlier this week Boris Nemtsov agreed with the communists and
the centrists on the list of candidates to the posts of Duma representatives
in the CEC. The candidates nominated by Yabloko and the LDPR were
not included in that list.
The term of office of the incumbent CEC, headed by Alexander
Veshnyakov, expires on March 24. By that time, the presidential
administration and both chambers of the Russian parliament are
to nominate five candidates each to the committee, which comprises
15 members. On Wednesday the State Duma voted to elect its representatives.
It transpired, though, that the list of 5 candidates had already
been discussed and approved at a Monday session of the centrist
factions. Observers were convinced that their list would be approved
on Wednesday, as it had been agreed upon with the communists and
the SPS. The candidates nominated by Yabloko and LDPR were nowhere
to be seen.
Nevertheless, the outsiders, too, proposed their candidates to
the CEC. Grigory Yavlinsky's supporters said they would fight
for Yabloko member Yelena Dubrovina, who currently holds a seat
in the CEC, to keep her post, while Vladimir Zhirinovsky's bloc
was set to delegate the LDPR member Oleg Finko to the election
committee.
The list of candidates nominated by the centrists and the communists
included Unity's Elvira Yermakova, Fatherland-All-Russia's Valery
Kryukov, the Communist Party's incumbent representative in the
CEC Yevgeniy Kolyushin, Veshnyakov's deputy Olga Zastrozhnaya,
nominated by the People's Deputy Group, and lawyer Vadim Prokhorov,
whose candidacy was nominated by the SPS.
Many believed that since the list of candidates had been endorsed
by the pro-Kremlin majority in advance, Yabloko and LDPR stood
absolutely no chance, and would have to run for the Duma seats
at the end of the year without their people in the CEC. But on
Wednesday, it transpired that their efforts had not been in vain.
Before the voting, member of the Duma committee for nation-building
Alexander Saliy addressed the deputies with a lengthy address.
''Many things will depend on whom we elect now,'' he said. The
deputies listened to their colleague without showing any interest
in his words, so that even the Duma speaker Gennady Seleznyov
had to rebuke them. ''Calm down. Listen to Saliy for five minutes.''
The deputies then proceeded to vote. LDPR's candidate Sergei
Abeltsev received 4.7 per cent of the votes, the incumbent member
of the CEC Yelena Dubrovina, nominated by Yabloko - 36.7 per cent,
the Communist Yevgeniy Kolyushin gathered 88.7 per cent of votes,
Olga Zastozhnaya - 82.4 per cent, Unity's Elvira Yermakova - 77.3
per cent, Fatherland's Valery Kryukov - 80.4 per cent. Vadim Prokhorov
proved to be the only candidate on the list that had been agreed
on by the centrists, with the communists and the SPS falling short
of the 226 votes (47.2%) required to be elected.
To elect the fifth candidate the deputies had to hold a second
round of voting. Taking part were Prokhorov, Yabloko's Dubrovina
and LDPR's Abeltsev. It seemed obvious that Prokhorov would win
that vote, but at the last minute Unity's Oleg Kovalyov, the head
of the committee for Duma regulations, intervened and suggested
that only Prokhorov and Dubrovina should take part in the second
round as the LDPR candidate had secured only 21 votes in the first
round, although the deputies did not agree. As a result, 73 deputies
voted for Abeltsev, 179 for Dubrovina and Prokhorov fell short
of the necessary 226 by just 4 votes.
After his candidate's defeat, Zhirinovsky, unexpectedly, called
on the deputies to vote for the candidate nominated by his foes
from Yabloko: this was all the more surprising, as the LDPR and
Yabloko have not been on good terms of late. Earlier this month
Yabloko proposed that Zhirinovsky be dismissed from the deputy
speaker's post after the LDPR leader's rant against George W.
Bush. In a fit of temper Zhirinovsky even hinted he would have
Yavlinsky killed. However, on Wednesday Zhirinvosky urged his
colleagues to vote for Yabloko's candidate. ''Dubrovina has been
on the political scene for ten years, while Prokhorov is a young
man. You know what I think of Yabloko - this is the most hated
party, but support it. This young man is here by chance.''
In the third round SPS candidate Prokhorov lost the vote to Yabloko's
Dubrovina who got 233 votes. It is still hard to believe that
Yabloko owes its Wednesday victory solely to Zhirinovsky. The
election of the new CEC representatives in the State Duma is seen
by many as yet another confirmation of the secret campaign aimed
at distancing the SPS from the Kremlin and replacing the SPS with
their rivals Yabloko. It is no wonder that on Wednesday the SPS
leaders accused the centrists of treachery.
''There was an agreement. We fulfilled our part. And others did
not,'' deputy speaker Irina Khakamada told Gazeta.RU. ''The centrists
have 240 votes. That is enough to resolve all problems, including
those of the SPS. We fulfilled all our agreements, supported their
candidates, and even the candidates of the CPRF. But apparently,
there is a genetic dislike for the SPS, as well as a desire to
have a tame CEC.''
Treachery or not, the CEC chief Alexander Veshnaykov could hardly
conceal his delight at the outcome of Wednesday's voting.
See also:
State Duma
elections 2003
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