Power carve-up in Duma after ruling party’s poll slump

Power carve-up in Duma after ruling party’s poll slump

The dominant force in Russian politics, United Russia, will for the first time have to learn the art of compromise following the erosion of its parliamentary majority in State Duma elections at the weekend.

­With the vote count all but completed, the overall picture of a brand new board of lawmakers is now emerging.  With just under 50% of vote, the party of the president and prime minister has lost significant clout, its parliamentary muscle a shadow of the two-thirds majority it boasted for years.

Among the parties United Russia will have to court or combat in the new parliament are the Communists, who came in second, and Fair Russia and the Liberal Democrats, who also secured Duma mandates.

The four other parties which took part in the elections failed to pass 7 per cent vote barrier required to ensure seats in the new lower house.

In contrast to the 2007 election, when United Russia got 64 per cent of the vote, in 2011, the party failed to gain a constitutional majority – the much-coveted two thirds – in the Russian State Duma.

However, since the votes polled by parties which failed to reach the threshold will be distributed among the winners, the United Russia Party is set to end up with more than 50 per cent of the seats, which means they will be able to pass all bills proposed by the cabinet. It means they will not need to form a coalition with any other party.

However, United Russia’s top brass have made public their intention to form alliances within the  Duma.

Meanwhile, as RT's Ekaterina Gracheva reports, early results have left some voters angry. On Monday in the center of Moscow, several thousand protesters gathered to express their discontent with the result of the parliamentary vote.

Around 5,000 people came to a rally sanctioned by the Moscow authorities.

Protesters chanted “Russia needs new elections,” “Russia without Putin,” “Revolution,” and “Shame.” Police did not intervene in the rally until several hundreds protestors took to neighboring  streets. After the crowd attempted to attract attention by disrupting traffic, they faced a police cordons and up to 300 were arrested.

A similar situation unfolded on Monday in Saint Petersburg, where several thousand protesters rallied in favor of different opposition parties and against the way the election had been conducted.

Also on Monday, a pro-United Russia rally which took place in central Moscow passed off peacefully.

Meanwhile, some international observers have spoken of fraud and widespread violations of election rules, while others have insisted any irregularities were insignificant, declared accusations unjustified, and maintained that the vote should be considered legitimate. 

President Dmitry Medvedev has promised that any accusations of electoral fraud will be investigated and anyone found guilty of infringements prosecuted.

Russia downgrades ties with Qatar after attack on Russian diplomats

By Associated Press, Published: December 5

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said that its ambassador to Qatar, Vladimir Titorenko, and two other diplomats were attacked by security officers at the airport in Doha, the capital.

It said the officers tried to forcibly seize a parcel from a diplomatic pouch the ambassador was carrying, and the ambassador was hospitalized after the attack.

The ministry said the incident will have the “most negative consequences” on ties between Moscow and Doha, but did not specify the measures it will take.

In Qatar, Titorenko said he plans to leave the Gulf country after medical treatment. He said the “ball is on the Qatari side” to issue an apology or risk a diplomatic rift with Moscow.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Russian ambassador to leave Qatar

http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/12/05/61601948.html
Frolova Inessa

Dec 5, 2011 19:49 Moscow Time

Russia is lowering the level of its diplomatic relations with Qatar. The reason is an attack against the Russian ambassador at the airport of that country’s capital Doha. Alexander Boldyrev, deputy chairman of the Department of the Press and Information of the Russian Foreign Ministry gave more details to The Voice of Russia:

“In the evening of the 29th of November Russian Ambassador to Qatar Vladimir Titorenko, who was on his way back from Jordan where he had been on business, was attacked by security and customs officers at the Doha airport. They tried to seize his sealed diplomatic pouch. The aggressive actions of the Qatar side caused damage to the ambassador’s health. Two Russian diplomats who were meeting  Titorenko at the airport were also hurt.”

Announcer: The staff of the Russian embassy had permission of the foreign minister of Qatar to carry the diplomatic pouch across the border without examination. This is the usual routine for diplomatic missions which is regulated by the Vienna Convention. However, the staff of the Doha airport made an attempt to deprive Titorenko of his bag with diplomatic mail and put it through an X-ray machine. This is an unprecedented violation of international rules. Probably, this was Qatar’s response to Russia’s position concerning Syria, believes Veniamin Popov, the director of the Centre of Partnership of Civilisations at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and Russian ex-ambassador at large:

“Our relations with Qatar are complicated. Several years ago one of the leaders of the Chechen opposition was killed there. Two of our employees were detained and later released after long negotiations. The most important factor is that the Al-Jazeera TV channel is based in Qatar. A serious reshuffle in the channel’s management took place recently and the policy of the channel has changed, especially concerning the events in Libya and Syria. Now Al-Jazeera is attacking Russia’s position on Syria. Russia is in favour of stopping the violence there and preventing a civil war and foreign interference in that country. Russia supported the initiative of the League of Arab States. However, the channel is accusing Russia of supporting dictators rather than people. This can be ascribed to anyone except Russia. We have always supported people, this was a tradition in Soviet times and we are keeping it up.”

The Russian ambassador managed to defend the diplomatic mail; however, Moscow does not intend to tolerate this treatment. Vladimir Titorenko will leave Doha in a few days. Until Qatar officially apologises, Russia’s interests in Qatar will be represented by a charge d’affaires, the Russian Foreign Ministry declares.

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