NEWS ANALYSIS: Finland avoids criticising Russian elections

Others speak of flaws, Finns focus on continuity

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By Kari Huhta
     
      Comments by Finnish foreign policy leaders on the Russian Parliamentary elections were clearly more positive than statements from other Western countries.
      Finnish statements emphasised the support won by President Putin, the voter turnout, and the continuity of Russia's policies in positive tones. The negative aspects of the election day and the preceding campaign got less commentary than in other places.
     
Most clearly taking his own line was Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre), who was quoted by the Finnish News Agency STT as saying that the accusations of fraud in the Russian elections were "somewhat vague". The election result was convincing in his view.
      Vanhanen was the only Western leader to criticise the criticism of the election.
      At the same time the Parliamentary representatives of the Organisation on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) concluded together that the elections were not fair and did not to meet democratic standards.
      Comments on elections necessarily affect future dialogue with Russia.
      Polite silence on the problems with Russia's elections and of possible future shortcomings does not differ significantly from the treatment that China has long demanded, and has been getting. However, the difference is that Russia is a European state that has made a number of European commitments in the 1990s, and has built props of genuine democracy for its elections.
     
Nowadays Russia is, on the practical level, disputing its commitment to democracy and is quick to denounce interference in its affairs by other countries. The election arrangements were a demonstration of the new policy line, and now we can see what it is leading to.
      According to an assessment by one expert, the danger is a return to a situation in which it is necessary to look sincere while pretending to believe in the deceitful claims of another.
      Finnish leaders do not differ from the others in their hopes for good relations with Russia, but they differ from many by avoiding talk of the flaws of the elections.
      Numerous comments in Europe and the United States criticised the defects in the election, and urged Russia to clear them up.
      The European Commission joined the ranks of the concerned. By late Tuesday even Portugal, the holder of the rotating EU Presidency, was able to formulate common European statement of mild rebuke to Russia.
     
Even Vanhanen commented on the arrangements for the elections to some degree when he said on Sunday that it is "rather exceptional for a sitting president to be the main national candidate of one party".
      In her comments to the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE), President Tarja Halonen focused clearly on the relations between Finland and Russia.
      "The Russians gave their support for the continuity of Putin's term in one way or another, and that was not so bad for Finland", Halonen said.
      Instead of criticising the election arrangements, she hoped that Russia would display openness in a European spirit from now on.
      She hoped that there would be observers in all elections. Russia has also demanded that the OSCE should monitor the elections of all member states in the same way. The result of this would be a dispersal of OSCE resources so that they would not suffice for the monitoring of problematic elections in Russia or anywhere else.
      Of all of Finland's foreign policy leaders, the one with the most direct advance criticism of Russia's elections was Minister for Foreign Affairs Ilkka Kanerva (Nat. Coalition Party), and even he did so with a good deal of caution.
      After the elections, he also did not evaluate the individual accusations of wrongdoing.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 5.12.2007


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finnish PM expresses concern at treatment of Russian opposition (28.11.2007)
  NEWS ANALYSIS: Russia begins dismantling OSCE election monitoring (6.11.2007)

KARI HUHTA / Helsingin Sanomat
kari.huhta@hs.fi