Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has dismissed protests over alleged electoral fraud at this month’s parliamentary election as minor and suggested installing webcams at polling stations to snub dissent at the March presidential election.
Speaking during an annual televised Q&A session with the nation on Thursday, Putin said the opposition should have full control over the conduct of the March election, which he is widely expected to win.
“The main goal is the next election,” he said.
He asked for web-cameras to be installed at every polling station in order to snub “those who seek to delegitimize the state power in Russia.”
“Let them work round the clock, night and day, transmitting everything onto the internet so that the country can see what is happening at a specific ballot box, to remove any falsifications altogether,” Putin said.
Liberal Yabloko party leader Sergei Mitrokhin said authorities should first deal with the parliamentary election, which Putin said reflected the balance of political forces.
Russia’s independent election monitoring organization, Golos, said it had logged more than 7,000 reports of fraud.
The elections’ disputed result triggered a vast protest movement, with protesters demanding a recount of votes or a re-run.
Last Saturday saw Russia’s largest protests since the fall of the Soviet Union, with tens of thousands turning up in Moscow alone. Smaller rallies were also held in St. Petersburg and other cities.
The People’s Freedom Party, which was barred from the December polls, said the webcams “would not change anything.”
“There are scores of ways for falsification, and no camera can spot them,” Vladimir Ryzhkov, one of the party’s co-chairmen, told RIA Novosti. Putin was just suggesting a “cosmetic measure,” he added.
Andrei Dunayev, the head of the pro-business Right Cause party, said there would be different figures on the website of the country’s election commission.
“Will there be a camera at the technician’s desk? This is of course a good beginning, but I’m afraid these are just words,” he said.
Opposition leader Eduard Limonov, who is also standing for president, said the “main thing is the protocols” of the vote.
