Alu Alkhanov - Election Controversy

Election Controversy

Alu Alkhanov's election in August 2004 was controversial from the outset. The election of his predecessor had been marred by allegations of ballot stuffing, voter intimidation by Russian soldiers and the exclusion of possible separatist candidates. As a career bureaucrat, Alkhanov had no obvious popular base and was seen by many observers as the placeman of the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Critics of Russian policy in Chechnya claimed that the government would not permit Alkhanov to be defeated, and that the outcome of the vote had been predetermined well in advance.

Alkhanov faced seven challengers. The most serious of these, Malik Saidullayev, a Moscow-based Chechen businessman, was barred from standing on the technicality of failing to fill his application correctly. The other six challengers had little recognition within Chechnya and several had ties with the government. They were:

• Abdula Bugayev, an historian and director of the Chechen branch of the Modern Humanities Academy. He finished a distant second to Kadyrov in 2003 with 5.7% of the votes.
• Movsar Khamidov, a colonel in the Chechen department of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor to the KGB.
• Vakha Visayev, an economist and an adviser to the acting Chechnya president, Sergey Abramov.
• Mukhmud-Khasan Asakov, a staff member of the Chechen State Council.
• Magomed Aidamirov, a businessman from the village of Tolstoy-Yurt.
• Umar Abuyev, director-general of the Chechen Petrochemical Company.

Alkhanov's platform was effectively a continuation of his predecessor's policies, with Chechnya continuing to remain part of Russia; economic autonomy; attracting aid and investment; cutting unemployment and the Russian military presence; and opening peace talks with separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov.

In the event, Alkhanov won by a landslide majority with 73.67% of the votes on an 85.25% turnout. Khamidov was second, with 8.95 percent, and Abdula Bugayev came third, with 4.5%. Visayev was fourth, Abuyev fifth, Asakov sixth and Aidamarov seventh, gaining between 0.6% to 4.3% of the vote. 1% of voters voted "against all candidates".

The results of the election were regarded with scepticism by some outside observers and the Chechen opposition. The U.S. Department of State, and International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights questioned the fairness of the elections and highlighting the disqualification of Saidullayev. The elections was internationally monitored by the monitors from CIS and LAS; western monitors didn't participate in the monitoring of the elections despite being invited. Polling conditions have been questioned; Khamidov has said that his campaign staff had recorded numerous irregulaties and will contest the vote results in court.