Pamfilova: Russia does not need democracy in the Western sense

Democracy in the West is not a way of forming power, but an ideology. Russia does not need democracy in this sense, Ella Pamfilova, chairman of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation, said at the Territory of Meanings forum.

“In that Western understanding, we don’t need such a democracy. <...> What is happening in the West now is democracy is not [как] the power of the majority is the power of the minority,” she said (quote according to TASS).

In continuation of her response, Pamfilova noted that “real democracy is expensive.” According to her, the elections are not a cheap event. At the same time, it is necessary to develop elective institutions at all levels in order to form a “quality” management system, the head of the CEC added.

Thus, Pamfilova responded to the request of one of the forum participants to comment on the words of the press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov about the upcoming presidential elections, published by The New York Times (NYT). “Our presidential election is not really a democracy, it’s a costly bureaucracy,” the newspaper quoted a Kremlin official in early August.

Later Peskov accused NYT in the wrong interpretation of his words. He clarified that the response regarding the elections implied an “unprecedented” consolidation of society around the president. “It can already be said now that if he is nominated, he will be re-elected with a huge advantage, and the elections themselves, theoretically, are just extra expenses,” Peskov said.