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Garry Kasparov is the chairman of the Renew Democracy Initiative, which publishes The Next Move.
How do I see Election Day through Russian eyes?
In Russia, we had a couple of elections in the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union. At first, they were free and mostly fair. After Boris Yeltsin forced through a new constitution and invaded Chechnya, those elections were free but no longer fair. Anyone could run, and anyone could vote, but the playing field was tilted heavily in the government’s favor. Yet even this stunted democracy proved to be an aberration in Russian history. By the end of the decade, we fell back into our old habits.
Every other freedom rests on the freedom to choose our leaders. That is why, in the early days of Vladimir’s Putin’s reign, I joined a broad-based opposition movement. Our coalition spanned the left-right spectrum, bringing in groups whose ideals were ideologically alien to me. Still, we agreed upon one foundational position: Russia must have free and fair elections.
Then, I decided to run for president of Russia in the country’s 2008 elections.
Well, I tried to run for president.