Paul
Goble
Staunton, September 16 – The Association
of Indigenous Peoples of the Russian Federation says that Russian political
parties have ignored the rights of the non-Russians who constitute 20 percent
of the population and that the indigenous peoples should vote against all party
lists, backing only candidates in single-member districts who support their
peoples.
Although it is far from clear how
many people will learn of this appeal and follow this recommendation, this is
an important development not only in highlighting the anger many non-Russians
feel about Russian political parties but also in underscoring the radical
differences in the way they and the candidates view single member contests as
against party list voting.
Last year, the Association, which
was created by national activists in Tatarstan, Bashkortostan and Chuvashia in
2014, sent an appeal to all Russian parties, except the openly imperialist KPRF
and LDPR, asking that they voice their support for Russian ratification of the
UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
None of them bothered to answer. The
only response came from the Federal Agency for Nationality Affairs which declared
that there was no need to ratify the Declaration because all of “the main
provisions” of that international act are included “within the framework of
existing law” (kyk-byre.ru/2011-predvybornoe-obraschenie-associacii-korennyh-narodov-rossiyskoy-federacii-my-golosuem-za-prava-korennyh-narodov-protiv-vseh-politicheskih-partiy.html).
“One can only guess,” the
Association said yesterday, “which of the parties sent the appeal to an organ
of state power” given that “by law, bureaucrats do not have the right to take
part in the activity of political parties in connection with their official
responsibilities.” But that is what has
happened.
And the Association continued that “prior
to elections, violations of rights are viewed particularly starkly,” and there
have been many of them, including Moscow’s treatment of Siberia and the Russian
Far East as lands conquered by Russians who can dispose of those lands as they
like without consultation with the indigenous peoples.
That is what happened earlier this
month at the Second Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok where Russian
officials acted as if they were the only ones who needed to be consulted about
development east of the Urals and did not invite any representatives of the
indigenous peoples, including the Sakha, the Evenks, the Evens, the Chukchis,
and the Nanays.”
That Russian failure constitutes a
violation of several provisions of the UN Declaration, provisions which Moscow
apparently assumes it can simply ignore, the Association says. As a result, the
organization has approved the text of the following statement that it is
addressing to “citizens not indifferent to the fate of the indigenous peoples of
Russia.”
“In view of the fact that not one of
the existing political parties of the Russian Federation has formulated its
position regarding the rights of indigenous peoples and the ratification of the
UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Association … proposes
that the indigenous peoples … vote against all candidates on party lists.”
Candidates running in single-member
districts “who have spoken out on behalf of the preservation and further development
of the language, culture and history of national-territorial formations, their
borders, their basic laws and constitutions,” on the other hand, deserve to
receive the votes of members of indigenous nationalities.
The Association adds that “in the
absence of a line ‘against all’ on the ballot, we propose putting a check for
each party and vote for all parties at one and the same time. That will make
the ballot invalid! And in the counting of votes, such wasted ballots could be
considered as votes ‘against all.’” The absence of a line allowing voting
against all is also a violation of the Constitutional rights of citizens of the
Russian Federation.
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