Russia’s election chief said on Friday that he was “offended” by insults against his person following the country’s disputed parliamentary polls.
Vladimir Churov, 58, was dubbed “the wizard” after the December 4 elections, which saw allegations of mass vote fraud in favor of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party.
The allegations led to the largest anti-government protests for almost two decades, with demonstrators demanding a rerun and Churov’s dismissal.
But Churov who once said “My first rule is that Putin is always right” told journalists on Friday that he was hurt by criticism of his role and accused critics of “beating an unarmed person.”
“Many think I do not get offended,” he said. “This is untrue and this offends me, as they know that I can’t respond to them while I am in this post.”
He also said that the presidential election campaign was underway and that any comments he might make could be interpreted as illegal campaigning.
“They really are beating an unarmed person. But I will gladly answer them after the March 4 elections,” he said.
Putin is widely expected to secure a third stint in the Kremlin, although analysts say his declining popularity could see him forced into a runoff.
Churov also said that the OSCE/ODIHR final report on Russia’s parliamentary polls was professional, but failed to separate its political and technical assessments of the widely criticized vote.
“The ODIHR report is very good, very professional,” he said. “But the political element should be separated from the assessment of the voting process.”
The report, published on Thursday, said the preparations for the December 4 State Duma elections were “technically well-administered, but the elections were marked by the convergence of the state and the governing party.”
“The contest was also slanted in favor of the ruling party,” the report added.
The report also said election officials were “observed to be dedicated and experienced and procedures were followed overall,” but lamented that “the quality of the process deteriorated considerably during the count, which was characterized by frequent procedural violations and instances of apparent manipulation.”
