MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Dmitry Shusharin) - On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin approved five new members of the Central Election Commission of Russia to replace the outgoing ones.
The presidential decree, however, made no mention of the commission's long-time chairman, Alexander Veshnyakov. A new head is expected to be elected at an organizational meeting to be held between March 26 and April 2.
No one had predicted that Veshnyakov would be sacked, and it all came as a political surprise. He was one of the stalwarts of the regime. His post gave him an active role in building "managed" (also "sovereign" and "façade") democracy. He became the commission's chairman in March 1999 after working for five years in its office, four of them as secretary. That is to say, he worked his way through all the meaningful elections of the past decade.
Like many Soviet- and post-Soviet-era functionaries, Veshnyakov did not obtain the required legal education until 1995, when he graduated from the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry, qualifying as a specialist in international law. But as early as 1997, he defended a thesis on electoral standards in international law and their incorporation into Russian legislation.
Shortly before the shake-up in the electoral body, Veshnyakov said that he expected to retain his post in a new commission but did "not claim membership either from the State Duma or the Federation Council [the lower and upper houses of the Russian parliament]," i.e. he expected to make it onto a presidential list of new members. This, however, did not happen.
Veshnyakov's ousting, according to some experts, can be explained by his critical attitude to the most outrageous amendments to the electoral legislation (the abolition of the minimum turnout and the "against all" entry on the ballot). And even if there were no such remarks, his eight years in the post have earned Veshnyakov considerable weight in the country and the world, making him a media person of note. For the political establishment in Russia, all this is reason enough to doubt the man's political loyalty and suspect him of being a maverick.
So the unseating of Veshnyakov should be seen as a hedge against possible political risks in the coming State Duma elections. Veshnyakov has done his job and may be dismissed, only to fill a worthwhile vacancy undoubtedly set aside for him.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
