Russian parliamentary elections were not fair

According to Council of Europe press release, the Russian Duma elections were “not held on a level playing field”.

In particular, the following major areas raised concern:

The merging of the state and a political party is an abuse of power and a clear violation of international commitments and standards.

The media showed strong bias in favour of President Putin and the ruling United Russia party.

The new election code makes it extremely difficult for new and smaller parties to develop and compete effectively.

There were widespread reports of harassment of opposition parties.

Personally, I think the elections finally showed to the general public what many in Western Europe refused to believe: that Russia is not in the path of stabilisation and democracy, but going further from it. It is stupid to think that authoritarian rule can somehow guarantee stability or peace: the only way to achieve this is through democratisation.