Only when candidates like Khodorkovsky appear we can see the reality as it is. I am not really approving the actions of the CA countries since they are just a repetition of what has happened in Russia. Personally I think no CA country in its current form has a real and independent political will. They all are influenced by their bigger “brother” Russia. It is just dissapointing that OSCE seems to be satisfied as long as “election fairness checklist” is completed, without looking into the substance.

The Russian Presidential Election on 14 March was generally well administered and reflected the consistently high public approval rating of the incumbent president but lacked elements of a genuine democratic contest. In addition to a dearth of meaningful debate and genuine pluralism, the election process failed to meet an important commitment concerning treatment by the state-controlled media, in particular television on a non-discriminatory basis. Those are the conclusions of the International Election Observation Mission which deployed 340 observers from 39 countries to monitor the election.

Not exactly screaming about unfair elections, but not exactly a positive review either. I wonder what they will say about the next one in Russia….

You make a good point; there is sort of a double standard out there in some respects. But I think the CA countries are learning pretty quickly. In this example, restricting some voices and propping up others is a pretty shrewd move, I would say.