Church urges to give clear answer to accuses of falsifying State Duma elections

Moscow, December 28, Interfax – People who doubt results of the parliamentary elections in Russia should get an answer, the Moscow Patriarchate official believes.

“It is very important that all accusations of dishonest votes counting, of violations in arranging elections receive a proper answer. They shouldn’t stay hanging,” head of the Synodal Department for Church and Society Relations Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin said in his program Kommentary Nedeli on Orthodox TV channel Souyz.

“Today we can’t say whether those who voice these accusations are right or wrong. To answer this question we, first of all, need very clear facts, facts that can be proved in the court and in a fair argument,” he further said.

According to the priest proved or provable facts should become a subject of legal proceedings, investigation of investigatory powers, the Central Elections Committee.

“It’s evident that significant number of people both right and left, conservators and liberals would like certain changes in political life of the country. It doesn’t mean that the opinion of these people, and I don’t think they make a majority in our society, should become decisive in all affairs. But it doesn’t mean that this opinion should be left without attention,” he stressed.

Father Vsevolod is convinced that active involvement of majority of people in discussion over the country’ destiny today can “help avoid extremes in political life and understand where authorities really need correction and where they work worthily and thus are worthy of support.”

He believes society needs a “serious dialogue” over the course of elections, over electoral processes, their organization, methods of civil control over them, exclusion of abuses and violations.

The priest is sure that participating in such dialogue should be various political forces, parties who passed or did not pass to the State Duma, various public associations, including opposition, representatives of those layers that today don’t have enough voice in party politics, in parliament, in organization of various mass events.

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