"The 2004 elections in the USA were attended by OSCE observers who have revealed not only some flaws but also quite a number of cases of direct infringement on international standards and American legislation proper," said Kosachev. He added however that these violations do not question the very availability of the democratic set-up in the United States.
Commenting on the electoral system in the United States, Kosachev singled out three points provoking certain doubts about the perfection of this system. One is that it is a group of voters from a definite state rather than a presidential candidate that the electors give their preference to in their ballots. "Thus, it is the electoral system proper that becomes a participant in the polls and can thus bring victory to a candidate who is not supported by the majority of people," said the MP.
He referred to the situation during the presidential elections in 2000 when George Bush came on top though a majority had voted for his opponent Albert Gore. "This distortion of people's will has happened three times in the American electoral system which cannot be therefore recognized as a model of democracy," said the head of the committee.
A poll conducted by the Gallop institute has revealed that 61 percent of Americans want to make their own choice of a president and merely 35 percent support the existing electoral system.
Besides, it is obligatory for citizens who want to go to the polls to register themselves in advance (approximately a month before elections). Kosachev cited the figure of about 52 million Americans who failed to vote for this reason alone.
The third point noted by Kosachev is the inadmissibility of "the third force" in the course of elections. In the meantime, about 62 percent of Americans favour the establishment of the third party so as to add up more alternative to elections.
Summing up the results of the recent polls in the United States, Kosachev notes that about 50,000 complaints from voters were submitted on the first day of the elections. As to OSCE observers, they have noted uncomfortable access to the polling stations, inconvenient voting ballots and the general complexity of the US national electoral system.
Kosachev's considerations have been shared by Alexander Veshnyakov, the head of the Russian central electoral commission, who said that the US decentralized system based on outdated norms and technologies calls for reforms and this is clear to the Americans themselves.
