They just held the Duma (congressional) election here, but it’s hard to figure out why anyone cared.
Voting is fast here. There are no pages of candidates for offices like senator, mayor, school board member and head dog catcher. It is one page, one check mark required.
Russians don’t define “democracy” the same way Americans do. They’ve never had anything like our system and after seeing our “vote for the one you can stomach” elections and the messes that Italy, Greece and other European democracies have made, they have no particular interest in emulating any of us.
Since Russian “Democracy” is a little different than American democracy, the Russian election is a little different than the American election. You are not allowed to vote for your representative in the Duma. You only vote for the party. The party then gets to select the number of representatives that their election percentage grants them. If they get 25% of the vote, they (the party) select 25% of the Duma from the legions of the faithful.
Therefore, even if your party wins, your district may be represented by someone you hate, someone who can’t even find your city on a map, and very often by someone you have never heard of.
This guarantees that all Duma members are much more faithful to their party than they are too you. There is no problem in Russia with renegade representatives or blue dog Democrats. If you are in the Duma, your ass is owned by the party. The rule is “Sit down. Shut up. Vote like we told you.”
Now, I don’t want you to think that a Duma member has no function. His jobs are:
- To vote the party line.
- To snarl Moscow traffic as much as possible by using his special blue emergency flasher light.
- To occupy for free an otherwise unused luxury apartment in the middle of Moscow.
- To drive his free luxury automobile (with the blue flasher on the roof).
- To enjoy the fact that he can’t be arrested for anything as long as he is a Duma member. That makes the job very popular among crooks, con men and heavy debtors.
Mayors are elected the same way in most cities. You have no idea who you are voting for. The big exceptions used to be the governors and the president. Then the president stopped that crap by giving himself the right to appoint governors.
It does result in a “representative” government. Everyone represents the needs of the ruling party and no one else. We have had two new mayors in Premalka in the past two years, neither one known well by the citizens or particularly popular. Uncle Victor wanted to rent an office space in a city owned building, and he spent almost a month trying to find the new mayor. His office is close enough to be seen from both our apartments, but no one has seen the mayor in over a month and no one knows where he is. He just doesn’t feel like coming into the office.
That’s democracy, Russian style.