The Hindu : Putin urges high voter turnout

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 12, 2004

International

International

Putin urges high voter turnout

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW, MARCH 11. The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has launched a passionate appeal to the nation to vote in the March 14 presidential poll, as a low turnout is seen as the only threat to his re-election for a second term.

"It is only your support that can give the future President confidence in his strength," Mr. Putin said in a televised address to the nation on Thursday, two days before the campaigning must stop ahead of Sunday's vote.

"Taking part in the election gives one a unique chance to influence the course of events in his Motherland", Mr. Putin said arguing that the vote would "help define the course the country will take in coming years and will allow responsible steps to be take to develop economy and improve the quality of people's life".

Surveys predict an easy win for Mr. Putin in the race against five other contenders who are unlikely to get more than 15 per cent among them. The Kremlin is worried that many people will ignore the vote whose outcome is a foregone conclusion anyway. If the turnout falls below 50 per cent, the vote will be ruled invalid and new elections will be called within four months.

Mr. Putin warned today that the Government would be paralysed if the election were cancelled because of a low turnout. "Let us think for a moment what will happen to the country if its supreme bodies of government are not formed," he said. "This is why each vote carries immense importance." Taking cue from the Kremlin local authorities are resorting to various tricks to ensure high voter turnout. Moscow, shop owners are required to display posters urging people to vote. The Moscow metro is bristling with advertisements promising pop concert tickets to those who turn out for the vote.

In some regions, voters are lured to the polling stations with offers of gifts or discount sales. The head of a local university in Siberia ordered his students to come to classes on Sunday so that he can make sure they all voted on the campus.

The Central Election Commission had to step on Wednesday to warn local authorities against putting pressure on voters. Such efforts will "backfire with a protest vote", the CEC head, Alexander Veshnyakov, said in a conference call with 100,000 election officials across the country. The new Deputy Prime Minister, Alexander Zhukov, agreed, citing a case in which health authorities in the Khabarovsk region ordered hospitals not to admit patients who had not applied for absentee ballots.

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