CC CPRF Statement

Statement by the Presidium of the CC CPRF. The last elections to the State Duma were neither free nor fair. We consider them to be illegitimate both from the moral and from the political points of view.

The CPRF assesses the results of elections for the State Duma of the RF on December 4 to be a heavy defeat of the ruling regime.

The elections have shown that the people resolutely reject the United Russia and the associated rampant corruption, rising food prices and utilities rates, the universal introduction of paid healthcare and education, bureaucratic arbitrary rule, lawlessness in the law courts and massive “terrorizing” of entrepreneurship. The citizens find insulting the growing social inequalities, the phoney “democracy” and constant falsification of the will of the people. They are outraged by the connivance of the law enforcement bodies at arbitrary behaviour and bribery, the lack of career prospects for young people and humiliation on the part of the governing party.

The tens of thousands of meetings with the constituencies held by activists, candidates for parliament and CPRF leaders during the election campaign show the widening gap between society and power. It is obvious to the majority of citizens that United Russia has not won nearly as many votes as the notorious “Ministry for Elections”claims. This dishonest result could only have been “squeezed out” due to the use of administrative pressure, coercion of groups of voters that beholden to the authorities, and due to overt crime.

The past election campaign was the dirtiest and the most dishonest in the past 20 years. Not even in the “wild 1990s” was there such lawlessness. All the structures engaged in organizing and holding the elections are like an octopus seeking to perform one tough mission, to squeeze out the result the governing party needs. This leads to widespread humiliation of citizens, growing tensions and confrontation in society. The continuation of these deplorable practices and the present course will inevitably lead to social upheavals, especially in the situation when the regime is losing the confidence of the majority of citizens.

The CPRF has proposed an alternative programme for coping with the crisis, reviving the country, restoring justice, people’s rule and legality. In spite of the bucketfuls of lies coming from notorious television rascals, the millions of dirty newspapers, intimidation and pressure popular support of the Communist Party has almost doubled.

The CPRF has scored victories in many major industrial, scientific and cultural centres from Novosibirsk, Omsk and Vladivostok to Voronezh, Ryazan and Orenburg. In the Oryol and Novosibirsk regions one in every three voters voted for the CPSF party list. Support for the party has increased substantially in the Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod, Irkutsk, Moscow, Kaliningrad, Pskov, Smolensk, Magadan, Murmansk and other regions, in the Atali, Krasnoyarsk, Primorye and Perm Territories. The party seriously strengthened its positions in Moscow. People voted for the CPRF en masse in Buryatia, Khakassia, North Ossetia-Alania, Chivashia, Mariy-El and the Nenetsky Autonomous Area. In many of these regions we managed to save people’s votes and minimize vote rigging.

We express appreciation to millions of our voters who have shown their trust in the CPRF. Sincere thanks are due to the hundreds of thousands of our activists and supporters who brought the truth about the party’s election programme to the remotest parts of Russia and managed to penetrate through the filtres of the media controlled by the “governing party.” Four hundred thousand communists and their allies, acting as observers and members of election commissions and independent correspondents, did all they could to ensure that the elections are fair and that the full voice of the people is heard through them.

The CPRF demands that election results be cancelled in the regions, municipalities and polling stations where gross violations of electoral law have been registered.

The State Duma must form a parliamentary commission to investigate the violations that occurred during the elections.

We call on the voters to uphold their rights more vigorously. We invite them to take part in the All-Russian actions on December 18-20 to protest against unprecedented electoral fraud and numerous arrests of civil activists. Only by pooling our efforts can we protect the right to free choice, achieve a change of social and economic course and bring Russia back to the path of creative endeavour, people’s rule and concern for the needs and aspirations of all the citizens.

We appeal to the opposition parties, the trade unions, youth and non-governmental organisations, civil activists, regardless of their political leanings, to unite to defend democracy and justice, human rights and to put a barrier to the omnipotence of corrupts bureaucrats who have challenged the last thing that the robbed citizens have – their right to vote.

At the same time we reject the attempts by pro-NATO ultra-liberals to use popular wrath in order to push the country into “orange” turmoil and chaos.