Falsified Election Results Deprive Ingush People of Any Hope for Change, Opposition Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 1 – As the trial of the Ingush Seven grinds on with the defense continuing to challenge the government’s charges were (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/368623/, fortanga.org/2021/09/kollegi-iz-ingushskogo-krasnogo-kresta-dali-pokazaniya-v-polzu-musy-malsagova/ and fortanga.org/2021/09/eksperty-ne-nashli-ekstremizma-v-zapisyah-v-bloknote-zarify-sautievoj/), the attention of the Ingush people shifted to the results of the recent elections to the Duma and the Popular Assembly of the republic.

            Commentators in the region say that the voting was completely falsified both in terms of the level of participation and the support United Russia has received and that the result are Duma deputies and Popular Assembly members who are completely disconnected from the people and leave them without hope for change (fortanga.org/2021/09/amorfnyj-parlament-i-biznesmeny-v-gosdume-ingushskie-analitiki-raskritikovali-itogi-vyborov/).

            Observers like rights activist Magomed Mutsolgov but not only he say that participation in the elections did not exceed ten to 25 percent despite official claims to the contrary and that United Russia’s victory was fabricated by adding votes to it that boosted both the level of popular participation and the ruling party’s victories.

            Another activist Isropil Nalgiyev says he is certain that at least half of the ballots were fake and that since the border deal “an absolute majority” in Ingushetia are opposed to United Russia because of its support for that giveaway of Ingush lands. And a third, a former republic deputy, Zakri Mamilov, agreed, adding that those put in office are ciphers not politicians.

            None of those who won office are linked to the people, Nalgiyev continues. They will be totally loyal to the bosses; and as a result, not only the Russian Duma in Moscow but the republic Popular Assembly will be entirely subordinate to the executive power vertical, Mutsolgov explains.

            “The Popular Assembly’s new composition is even more amorphous than before and will make the body subservient to the leadership of the republic. “This power vcertical is constructed so that it does  not represent national and regional interests … These people never will take the initiative … They will only fulfil the will of the leadership of the republic” and its Moscow overseers.

            Mamilov says that it is especially troubling that almost no one in the republic has heard of any of them. They have no links to the people, and as a result, there is little hope that Ingushetia will escape its current state of stagnation. The two United Russia candidates who were selected as winners for the Russian Duma are the same, he and others say.

            What Ingushetia needs are real elections and candidates who speak to the interests of the people, Nalgiyev concludes. Instead, they are offered regime-selected candidates who may be good businessmen. But being effective businessmen is not enough; what the people need are real politicians.