Within the framework of the
‘second phase of the political process’ the election of the republic’s
president was fixed on the 5th of October 2003. The majority of independent
observers, as in the case with the referendum, doubted that the election may be
free at least to some extent. It was obvious that separatists will not be
allowed to participate in the election, but there was some hope for the
competition among the candidates loyal to Moscow and for the accession to power
of a person not directly connected with the crimes committed in the past years
who would be ready to demand that these be terminated in the future. If the
population of
But the Centre soon revised its initial intentions
and gave support to Akhmat Kadyrov who at that time was the head of the
administration of the
Based on the results of the monitoring[2] conducted by the human rights NGO[3]
the real attendance of voters at the polling stations
was very low. As on the day of the referendum, the streets of cities and
villages were deserted. In many populated points there were no people at the
polling stations, except the representatives of the Russian forces and
law-enforcement agencies. Due to a low attendance the election actually failed
in the city of
Low activity of the voters was not necessarily related to their adherence to the idea of national independence. Because of the years of extrajudicial executions and kidnappings, non-stop cleansings and robberies even those who had earlier identified themselves with convinced separatists tended to aspire to a regular and calm life while their political aspirations became secondary in importance. But on the eve of the election all real opponents to Akhmat Kadyrov were moved out of the way by means of threats and/or administrative and judicial manipulations (businessmen M.Saidullayev[5] and H.Jabrailov,[6] politician A.Aslakhanov[7]),
which confirmed the opinion
of the residents of the republic: nothing depends on them, their participation
in the voting is a mere formality and is only required to cover up massed
falsifications. As a result, the election was ignored by many who initially
took a decision to vote.
It is indicative that the
Acting President of the Chechen Republic Anatoly Popov while speaking at the
out-of-town session of the republican government in the village of Sernovodsk
on the 4th of September 2003 attended by the ministers for internal affairs,
education, agriculture and municipal housing economy, heads and activists of
the Sunzha, Achkhoi-Martan and Urus-Martan districts gave a directive to
nominate and support a ‘single candidate.’ The name was not mentioned, but it
was obvious: Akhmat Kadyrov is meant.[8]
Mass media waged direct and
indirect propaganda mainly for Kadyrov, propaganda materials (posters, leaflets
etc.) were also mainly “pro-Kadyrov’s.”
On the election day, according
to the human rights activists, violations became massive and were of systemic
nature. In the Shali district access routes to the polling stations were closed
off by concrete blocks and trunks of fallen trees and an order was given not to
let strangers go thorough. One hour before the fixed time, in some villages
even earlier all the polling stations were closed. This had little effect on
people who wished to their ‘civic duty’: the district did not feature voting
activity as the rest of the republic.
The ballots from the polling stations accompanied by the chairmen of the
election committees, their deputies and secretaries were first delivered on
Russian armoured personnel carriers to the district administration building
blocked on all sides by the forces of the republican Ministry for Internal
Affairs), and only then, according to the official version, after counting
them, protocols were made. Observers from candidates other than Kadyrov’s were
not allowed to attend this procedure.[9]
To provide the real attendance
at least to a minimum extent the republic’s authorities resorted to subterfuges
earlier tested at the referendum. Pensions and allowance were issued on the
election day in the same buildings that accommodated polling stations (for example,
this was done in the Kurchaloy and some villages of the Achkhoi-Martan
district). But here, too, mostly the administration personnel and their
relatives came up to the ballot boxes.
Voters gathered only at the polling stations where journalists and official observers were expected in advance[10].
At polling station ¹147 in the
Therefore, the federal centre ensured an ‘impressive
victory’ to Akhmat Kadyrov who, according to the official data, collected about
82% of the votes with the attendance of 85%.
[1] During preparation for voting there
were clashes between armed supporters of various candidates, attacks on their
election headquarters and even killings. Thus, on 7 September in the
[2] Not to be confused with watching
the election. Human rights and public organizations, as well as interstate
political structures involved in the conflicts, such as OSCE and PACE, did not
officially watch the voting process.
[3] Memorial,
[4] “Chechnya 2003: Political process
through the looking glass”,
[5] M.Saidullayev was excluded from
registration by decision of the republic’s Supreme Court later confirmed by the
Supreme Court of the RF. (ibidem).
[6] H.Jabrailov hinted many times in
the interviews that he took the decision on withdrawing his candidature
independently, but after, which is equally important, the corresponding
conversation with the head of the administration of the President of the RF
(ibidem).
[7] Commenting on his decision to
withdraw from the election A.Aslakhanov said: “The outcome of the election had
been known as early as two months ago. I do not want to participate in the
one-man show.” It is noteworthy that Aslakhanov took this decision after he was
offered the post of the adviser to the President of the
[8] Human rights center Memorial (www.memo.ru); “Chechnya 2003: Political process
through the looking glass”,
[9] Ibidem.
[10] Note that as in the case with the
referendum OSCE, PACE and the governments of democratic countries took a
decision not to send observers to the election, because of a lack of elementary
security.
[11] Human rights center Memorial (www.memo.ru); Chechnya 2003: ‘Political process
in the behind-the-mirror land’ land’ (