President Vladimir Putin effectively dismissed Russia's long-serving elections chief on Tuesday, two days after regional polls which tightened the Kremlin's grip on power.
Putin did not include Central Elections Commission chairman Alexander Veshnyakov of a list of five nominees to the new election commission which will oversee the 2008 presidential election, the Kremlin said. The Kremlin gave no reason for Veshnyakov's departure, saying only that the four-year term of the previous election commission had expired. The new commission takes office later this month.
In his post since 1999, Veshnyakov was a controversial figure who had overseen two presidential elections. Russia's liberal opposition parties attacked him for failing to guarantee democracy but some political analysts said he might have been axed for not being loyal enough to the Kremlin.
In an interview with Reuters last year, Veshnyakov criticised the dominance of the main pro-Kremlin party United Russia, saying the country risked repeating the mistakes of the Soviet Union if one party grew too powerful.
"As we head into federal elections, elections to the State Duma and presidential elections, they (the Kremlin) need an absolutely loyal, absolutely obedient person ready to make pretty serious deviations from the rules," independent political analyst Georgy Satarov told Ekho Moskvy radio.
The small liberal party Yabloko, which was barred from the ballot in four of the 14 regions voting last weekend for allegedly breaking election rules, shed few tears for Veshnyakov.
"Over the last years, elections in Russia have ceased to exist as such and what is now called elections does not correspond to universally accepted standards of openness, honesty and legality," party leader Grigory Yavlinsky said in a statement. Interfax said Veshnyakov would be offered a new senior post. It was not clear who the next election chief would be.
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