Photo opportunity: 11am, Monday 1 December, City Chambers, Dundee City Square, Dundee, Lord Provost presents Dr Ross and Iain Luke MP with gift to present to officials in Russia.
Five Scottish MPs and MSPs and a University of Dundee expert in Russian politics will leave for Russia on Tuesday 2 December to act as official election observers as voters elect members to the national parliament. As accredited election observers, the team will oversee and monitor election proceedings by visiting polling stations and witnessing the final ballot count at the Central Election Commission.
Led by Dr Cameron Ross of the University's Department of Politics, the politicians will travel to Moscow and Tver to meet Duma members and Moscow City Council officials. They will also visit the Institute for Electoral Systems Development for a pre-election briefing.
The trip is the second phase of an exchange project organised by the Dr Ross and funded by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy. The aim is to develop Russia's parliamentary democracy and promote cultural ties and friendship between Russia and Scotland.
This visit will see the Scottish politicians tour a number of polling stations on Sunday 7 December where they shall see voting in action and gain a greater understanding of the election process in Russia. In the evening they have been invited to the Central Electoral Commission to witness the election returns as they come in electronically from across the country.
The unique exchange programme, initiated by the Dr Ross in the aftermath of September 11, brought seven representatives from the Russian State Duma (the lower house of the Russian parliament) and the Tver Regional Assembly to Britain last October to explore how politicians work in their constituencies and to learn about how localelections are run.
The delegation visited Dundee City Council, the Scottish Office, and Westminsterand Edinburgh Parliaments, where the visitors met and exchanged ideas with politicians from across the political spectrum.
Dr Ross said, "The aims of this programme are to develop cultural and friendship ties between Scotland and Russia, to contribute to the broadening and deepening of democracy in Russia and also to promote Scotland in Russia. We hope this Scotland-Russia exchange programme will have further economic and cultural spin-offs which will benefit Scotland, and Dundee in particular.
At a time of international tension, it is more important than ever to build bridges between countries and for politicians to meet each other and engage in dialogue and structured debate. Though the Cold War is over and the Berlin Wall has fallen, we still need to work together to build trust between our two countries. Our discussions will focus on issues of devolution, local governance and federalism, electoral systems and democratisation.
At a time when voter apathy is strong in Britain, we also wish to discuss the practical ways in which parliaments in both countries can more effectively reach out and engage with their citizens.
This will be an exciting and rewarding trip which will promote Scotland in Russia and give our MPs and MSPs a greater understanding of one of the largest most important countries in the world."
Iain Luke MP, said, "I'm delighted to be involved in this project. When the Russian delegation visited last year they were very interested in the organisation of politics in the UK, particularly with devolution. It is especially rewarding to see what good work the University of Dundee is doing. I studied politics at the University in the 1970s when relations with the USSR were very different, and I'm very glad to see that researchers there are keeping abreast of developments in that part of the world."
Editors' notes
Dr Cameron Ross will be available for interview in the run-up to and during the election. Contact him from December 2 on Iain Luke's mobile on 07903 017 809.
Dr Ross teaches Russian and East European Politics at the University of Dundee. He holds a Ph.D from Cambridge University and has taught politics at Cambridge, the College of William and Mary (Virginia, USA), and Oberlin College (Ohio, USA). Dr Ross has published widely in the field of Russian politics. His most recent book is Federalism and Democratisation in Russia (Manchester University Press 2003).
Participants
British participants
Iain Luke, Labour MP
Michael Weir, SNP MP
Mary Scanlon, Conservative MSP
Marlyn Glen, Labour MSP
Mike Pringle, Liberal Democrat MSP
Russian participants
Egorova Nadezda, Deputy of the Tver Regional Assembley
Gainoullina Farida, Deputy of the State Duma
Ivanov Nikolay, Deputy of the State Duma
Popov Yury, Deputy of the Moscow CityDuma
Tchikoulaev Serguei, Deputy of the State Duma
By Jenny Marra, Head of Press 01382 344910, out of hours: 07968298585, j.m.marra@dundee.ac.uk