MOSCOW, November 11. /TASS/. The United States wants to declare itself a model of democracy and tends to criticize Russian politics, yet the fact that deceased legislative members are winning in the US midterms serves as proof that the country's political system is literally dead, a top Russian lawmaker said on Friday.
"Postscriptum to the US midterms, or dead souls among American politicians. Washington who proclaims itself to be a model of democracy likes to criticize our election system. Here’s a couple of examples to show that the standards being promoted by the US are worthless and that the US political system is literally dead," State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin wrote on his Telegram channel.
The Russian lawmaker referred to the reelection of two dead US politicians at the US midterms. Democrat Tony DeLuca, a Pennsylvania state representative, was reelected even though he had been deceased for a month. "His name was never removed from the ballot. DeLuca’s rival has been insisting in her messages to voters that she is the only living candidate around. But the dead man won anyway," Volodin wrote. He also cited another win - by a Tennessee representative, Democrat Barbara Cooper, who died in late October.
"Nikolay Vasilyevich Gogol would have loved this story," the State Duma speaker concluded.
On November 8, the US held its midterms to elect all 435 members of the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate. In addition, Americans went to the polls to vote for governors in 36 states and three territories.