Elections In Russia (No. 2)

EDM number 1553 in 1994-95, proposed by Ken Livingstone on 31/10/1995.

That this House is gravely concerned by recent threats that Russia's parliamentary elections, scheduled for 17th December this year, might be cancelled; condemns the decision of Russia's Central Electoral Commission to ban two parties, Yabloko and Derzhava, from participation in the elections; recalls that Russia's last parliament was destroyed by tanks on the order of President Yeltsin using the argument that new elections were necessary; deplores the open discussion in the press than an authoritarian regime might be preferable to respect for the outcome of democratic elections if those elections produced a majority for parties which oppose the monetarist shock therapy to which Russia has been subjected since January 1992, creating the greatest peacetime industrial collapse in history; and calls upon Her Majesty's Government to make clear this House's view that Russia's parliamentary and presidential elections should be held on schedule, in conditions where all parties have equal rights, including access to the media, and that the outcome of the democratic process be respected.

This motion has been signed by a total of 10 MPs.