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A trouble-torn land goes to the polls

Vladimir Radyuhin

The election of Parliament, however flawed, is a big step forward in returning Chechnya to peaceful life.

CHECHNYA ON Sunday voted to elect its first Parliament since Russia crushed a separatist regime in the region six years ago. Over 350 candidates, representing all main federal parties, as well as independents, contested 18 seats in the regional assembly's upper house and 40 seats in the lower chamber.

The parliamentary vote is the final phase in a three-stage plan devised by Russian President Vladimir Putin to re-integrate Chechnya into Russia and hand over local power from a Russian military administration to a civilian

government. The military have controlled Chechnya since October 1999, when they entered the region to remove a secessionist government of President Aslan Maskhadov and put down rebel resistance, which defeated Russian forces in the first Chechen campaign in 1994-1996.

Under the Kremlin peace plan, a constitutional referendum was held in Chechnya in March 2003 to cement its status as an integral part of Russia and approve a power structure for the region. This includes a powerful President, a government the President nominates, and a legislature with limited authority. In October 2003, Chechnya moved to the second phase of the peace plan by electing Moscow-appointed regional administrator Akhmad Kadyrov as its President. Presidential elections had to be held again in August 2004 following the assassination of Kadyrov in a bomb attack in May 2004. The new Parliament is bound to be loyal to Moscow as separatists have been excluded from running.

However, the candidates include four former rebels who have changed sides, including Magomed Khambiyev, Defence Minister under the late rebel president Aslan Maskhadov. A pre-election poll by Chechen authorities found that the pro-Kremlin United Russia party would win 35 per cent of the vote, followed by the liberal Yabloko party (10 per cent) and the Communist Party (10 per cent). Parties must garner at least 5 per cent to win seats.

While the Moscow peace plan for Chechnya is being implemented according to schedule, the situation in the region is far from stable. Russian troops and local Chechen police and security forces continue to suffer casualties almost daily in hit-and-run rebel attacks. There is a risk that the new legislature may become a rubber stamp for Chechnya's security supremo Ramzan Kadyrov, son of the slain President, Akhmad Kadyrov.

Although Ramzan, who holds the post of Deputy Prime Minister in charge of police and security forces, is officially number three in the Chechen administration after President Alu Alkhanov and Prime Minister Sergei Abramov (ethnic Russian), he is widely regarded as the real ruler of Chechnya.

He heads a much feared 5,000-strong para-military force that has been accused of kidnappings and other abuses, and controls Chechnya's only functioning industry of oil production. He is widely expected to become Chechnya's next president after he turns 30 next year.

A recent survey, carried out in Chechnya by an independent think tank, showed that over 70 per cent of respondents said the vote would be fraudulent.

The election of Parliament, however flawed, is a big step forward in returning Chechnya to peaceful life. Now that a civilian structure of government has been fully established, Moscow is prepared to hand over to it control over the region where separatism is no longer popular. According to a study conducted by the Moscow-based Institute of Social Marketing this year, 86 per cent of war-weary Chechens accept the idea of remaining within Russia, compared with 67 per cent three years ago.

The Chechen election will also strengthen Russia's case with the West that political settlement in Chechnya is making good progress. .

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