An official writes on a sheet of paper during the news conference of United Russia. The inscription reads: "Corruption."
Photo: Dmitry Dukhanin
| Other Photos |
 |
|
 |
Russia’s Corruption to Be Stripped Off Political Component
Fighting corruption in Russia won’t be successful, if the authorities fail to take effective actions against political corruption, signaled the report of Transparency International-R that was presented yesterday and elaborated by results of the State Duma and presidential elections in Russia.
The expansion of political corruption was the subject of the survey made out by Transparency International-R Center for Anti-Corruption Research and Initiative. The experts carried out their monitoring from May 2007 to March 2008, covering 93 printed media, Internet editions, TV and radio resources. All cases of “the office resource abuse” were regarded as the manifestation of political corruption. In the end, United Russia was found the most corrupt party of the State Duma elections and Dmitry Medvedev was said to be the most corrupt presidential candidate in Russia.
"Nothing changed for the better” during four years that passed from the previous elections of 2003 to 2004, said Elena Panfilova, who heads Transparency International-R. The dominance of United Russia and of president’s successor in the media resource was even more evident with the governors, mayors and other bureaucrats “up to the bureaucrats of housing and communal services,” openly participating in the campaign. What’s more, the so-called enforcement resource became more aggressive, pressurizing the opponents of United Russia. And last but not least, election commissions always upheld United Russia in disputable situations.
But there is some hope that the situation will improve by future elections. According to Transparency International-R, the first step en route could be spelling out in laws the notion of “public official,” extending it to all bureaucrats of government’s offices, top-ranked officials of enforcement bodies, Central Bank of Russia and even to the officials of local self-government bodies.
Some actions “have been specified in the RF laws,” said Vladimir Yuzhakov, who is in charge of the administrative reform project at Strategic Development Center, but their wording is “soft” and the bureaucrats easily bypass the restrictions.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of July 30, 2008
|
|
|
