The Golos movement recorded more than 1,500 reports of election violations on the single voting day on September 10. In particular, as evidenced by observers, there were both fakes and anomalies in turnout in different regions. Complaints about violations of the procedure for summing up voting results were also widespread. The top three countries for violations were Moscow, the Saratov region and the Krasnodar Territory, co-chairman of the movement Grigory Melkonyants told Interfax on Monday.
According to Golos, in Moscow the violations were mainly related to the work of social workers at home, and also involved bribery in the form of lotteries and competitions. Most of the complaints were received about “abnormal” voting at home and stuffing, representatives of Yabloko, the Golos movement, the headquarters of ex-State Duma deputy Dmitry Gudkov, Open Russia and the A Just Russia party told RBC.
Candidate for municipal deputies in the Timiryazevsky district, Yulia Galyamina, suggested that the increase in the number of “homeworkers” could be organized by United Russia, which was afraid that it would not have enough votes.
Opposition representatives complained that at several polling stations the number of applications to vote at home was abnormally high, and social workers persuaded pensioners to vote at home and helped them make the “right” choice - in favor of candidates from United Russia. In particular, "The Voice" previously posted a video from one of the home-based votes, in which representatives of the election commission from the Sokol district ask a pensioner to name the names of the candidates for whom she will vote.
Observer Alexander Menyukov told RBC that in Fili, during home-based voting, an elderly woman transferred marks from campaign materials to a ballot in the presence of a social worker who had received a calendar with candidates from United Russia the day before. Confirmation from the social worker is on the audio recording in RBC's possession. According to Menyukov, at neighboring polling stations, home-based voters also transferred marks from campaign materials to ballots.
Misrepresentations and imperfections of the new voting system
According to Melkonyants, in the Perm region, employees of one enterprise arrived at the polling station in an organized manner and voted at their location. “This means that the new technology works like the old absentee system,” he explained.
“And in the Ryazan region, a voter voted twice, and this is a signal that the system allows double voting,” said a Golos representative. As stated on the movement’s website, on election day, a resident of the Ryazan region voted at one polling station and found himself in the register at another polling station, where he was also able to receive a second ballot. However, he did not use it so as not to break the law.
Stuffing was also recorded during the elections. Thus, a candidate from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and his observers recorded ballot stuffing at polling station N221 in Saratov. While the candidate was writing a complaint, members of the precinct commission shook the ballot box.
In Engels, Saratov Region, at polling station N1787, a member of the commission with the right to an advisory vote discovered neatly folded stacks of ballots in a ballot box and called the police. The police interviewed the violators, checked their passports and left. Also in Saratov, at polling station No. 250, a member of the commission with the PSG recorded a stuffing committed by the secretary of the commission. In Kaliningrad, at polling station No. 196, an observer reported the suppression of an attempt to stuff two ballots.
Traditionally, violations were also recorded during the counting of votes. Thus, the candidate for municipal deputies of the Moscow Timiryazevsky district, Yulia Galyamina, that she was expelled from the territorial election commission (TEC), where the vote recount was taking place. Previously, Galyamina stated that the TEC of the Timiryazevsky district should be disbanded, since stuffing of ballots was found in the precinct election commission, and ballots were opened secretly from observers in another commission.
It was initially reported that a group of independent candidates for municipal deputies of the Timiryazevsky district, which includes Galyamina, received eight of the 15 mandates in the Timiryazevsky district. However, Galyamina subsequently reported that in some PECs and TECs they began to recount votes without witnesses. In particular, in PEC 420, according to her, candidates from United Russia were given 20 votes each. Observers later managed to force the commission to remove the extra 20 votes.
Summing up, co-chairman of the Golos movement Grigory Melkonyants told Interfax that the number of violations was comparable to similar elections held earlier. However, according to him, “the biggest disappointment was Moscow.” “We saw that technologies that had not been seen for the last five years are returning. Yes, these are not gross violations, these are not “carousels,” but the trend has clearly changed. Taking into account the fact that independent candidates will win in some areas, we can see how the vector of the Moscow government’s attitude towards the elections is changing in favor of greater administration,” Melkonyants explained.
“Golos” was also “upset” by the Altai Territory, where there were gross violations during early voting. As Melkonyants said, activists have information about possible violations in this region. In particular, members of the movement are concerned about the “abnormally high early voting” in the region.
The CEC asks to transfer all data on violations
The head of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation, Ella Pamfilova, asked the Golos movement to provide her with information about violations during voting at polling stations in the Altai Territory, TASS reports.
“I ask you to urgently give all the facts. We will gather reasons for cancellation and cancel it so that life does not seem like honey to them,” Pamfilova said on Sunday at the Central Election Commission, addressing Grigory Melkonyants.
The Chairman of the Central Election Commission advised regional election commissions not to rush into summing up the voting results, but to consider all complaints received.
Elections at various levels took place on Sunday in 82 of Russia's 85 regions, with the exception of St. Petersburg, Ingushetia and the Magadan region. In the Kingisepp and Bryansk single-mandate districts, additional elections to the State Duma were held, in 16 regions residents elected heads of subjects, and in six - deputies of legislative assemblies. There were also more than 230 local referendums.
MOSCOW, September 28 - RIA Novosti. The downward trend in voter turnout continued in the September 10 elections, although there was no record low turnout in any region; in most cases, its figures were lower than in previous similar elections, experts from the Committee of Civil Initiatives (KGI) of Alexei Kudrin found out.
On Thursday, the Committee for State Property Committee presented a report on the results of the 2017 election campaign. Elections of various levels were held in Russia on a single voting day on September 10 in 82 of 85 regions, in 16 subjects they elected heads of regions, in six - deputies of legislative assemblies.
“The results of the elections on September 10, 2017 showed that the downward trend in voter turnout continues. Although there are no record numbers this time... in most cases, turnout in the 2017 elections was lower than in previous similar elections,” the report says.
Experts recalled that records of low turnout in regional elections (21%) were recorded in 2014-2015 - in the elections to the Moscow City Duma and in the elections of the governor of the Arkhangelsk region. The reasons for the decline in turnout in general, according to committee experts, are the postponement of elections to September, a decrease in the competitiveness of elections, as well as a decrease in campaign activity of parties and candidates.
General turnout figures
This year, experts recorded the only case of increased voter activity in the elections for the governor of the Sverdlovsk region (turnout was 37.3%), activity in previous similar elections in this region was at 33.6%.
In other regions, a decrease in turnout was noted. If, for example, in the Kaliningrad region the decrease in turnout turned out to be “symbolic” (the difference was 0.4%), then the decline was noticeable in Mari El (3.5%), Kirov region (5.9%), Udmurtia (8.5% ) and, especially, the Novgorod region (14.4%).
At the same time, in the elections of regional parliaments, the picture, according to KGI experts, turned out to be ambiguous: in those three regions where the turnout in October 2012 was the highest (45-49%), it still increased, and in the other three regions it decreased. Thus, an increase in turnout in elections of this level was recorded in North Ossetia, the Penza and Saratov regions, and in Udmurtia, the Krasnodar Territory and Sakhalin, the turnout, on the contrary, decreased in comparison with previous similar elections.
In the elections of representative bodies of regional centers, out of 11 cities where elections at this level were held, turnout increased in only three: Cherkessk, Vladivostok and Yaroslavl, the KGI clarified. Experts note that in most cases the turnout in the regional center in these elections was lower than in municipal areas.
Separately, experts analyzed the turnout in municipal elections in Moscow; KGI noted that all previous similar elections were combined with elections of a higher level. Against this background, the turnout of 14.8% does not give the impression of being extremely low, experts clarified - although it is noticeably lower than 21% in the Moscow City Duma elections, “but it is obvious that the interest of Muscovites in municipal elections is even lower than in city elections.” At the same time, voter activity in these elections in different areas varied greatly - in some areas of the center and close to the center, in which there was mainly an active struggle, the turnout exceeded 20%, low turnout was observed in the outlying areas.
The KGI also reviewed the situation in the Sverdlovsk region, where intraregional differences in turnout were noted. Experts came to the conclusion that the lottery, held on election day in some cities (Ekaterinburg was not among them), “played a significant role.” Turnout in these territories, according to KGI, increased by 7.3% compared to 2016, while in territories where the lottery was not held, turnout decreased by 8.2%. On the other hand, the call of the mayor of Yekaterinburg Evgeny Roizman to boycott the elections, according to KGI, contributed to a decrease in turnout in the regional center (by 15.5% compared to 2016).
Early, home-based and without absentee
In the data on voting at the place of actual location without the need to take absentee ballots, KGI experts found “a lot of unclear things.” Thus, according to the Central Election Commission, 223,407 people submitted applications to vote at their actual location 45-5 days before voting day, and 21,928 people submitted applications four or less days before the elections (that is, special applications with security stamps).
“However, our calculation based on data extracted from the CEC website gives different numbers - 183,464 and 19,427. As for the number of applications submitted four days before voting day and later, we assume that not all TECs have these data entered.” , says the report.
In general, as experts note, “we can conclude that the new mechanism allowed a significant part of citizens to exercise their voting rights.” According to their data, the movement of voters at the polling stations occurred mainly from the regional periphery to regional centers and large cities.
“Thus, this mechanism allows voters whose official place of residence is in the rural outback, and whose actual place of residence is in a large city, to vote. Obviously, at the federal elections there will be much more such citizens,” the KGI believes.
“A clearly inflated share of early voters in Barnaul, Vladivostok, Nakhodka, Omsk and Pskov... At the same time, the low level of early voting in Stary Oskol and Naro-Fominsk raises suspicions that voters were prevented from exercising their right to early voting,” - noted in the report.
The committee clarified that the level of early voting in many districts of Moscow was below 1% of the number of voters who voted, and in the Airport and Levoberezhny districts not a single voter voted early. At the same time, the level of home voting in some areas was quite high by Moscow standards - for example, in one of the districts of the Krasnoselsky district it was 9.2%.
Today is a single voting day in Russia. In 16 regions, governors are elected, in six - deputies of legislative assemblies, in 11 - deputies of the city duma of regional centers, and in two more by-elections to the State Duma are being held. The progress of the voting and summing up its results are in the online broadcast of Kommersant.
22:37 . According to the exit poll, the acting governor of the Perm Territory and the candidate from United Russia, Maxim Reshetnikov, wins the elections for the governor of the Perm Territory by a large margin. According to preliminary data, 77.1% of regional voters preferred him. Second place may be taken by the candidate from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Moscow lawyer Irina Filatova (8.7%), third - coordinator of the regional branch of the LDPR Oleg Postnikov (6.5%). Professor and candidate from A Just Russia Vladimir Alikin, according to preliminary data, received 4.2% of the vote. The chairman of the council of the regional branch of Patriots of Russia, Andrei Stepanov, was preferred by 1.5% of voters. At the same time, 30% of respondents refused to answer sociologists' questions. The official voting results will be announced tomorrow morning.
22:03 . LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky demanded the dismissal of the head of the Moscow City Election Commission, Valentin Gorbunov, for low turnout in municipal elections.
“We have long demanded the dismissal of the head of the Moscow City Election Commission, Gorbunov, who is the only one left from the Luzhkov team. It is he who holds such elections without voters,” said Mr. Zhirinovsky. As of 18:00, voter turnout in Moscow was 12%.
21:54 . Based on the results of processing the first results from polling stations in the presidential elections in Udmurtia, the current leader of the republic, Alexander Brechalov (United Russia), is in the lead with a result of 78.82%. In second place is the candidate from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Vladimir Bodrov with 9.03%, in third place is the representative of A Just Russia Farid Yunusov (4.19%).
21:39 . The Central Election Commission recorded a record turnout in the elections for the head of Mordovia. According to the Central Election Commission at 18:00, it was 71%. The lowest turnout, according to preliminary data from the Central Election Commission, was in the elections for the head of Karelia (23.5%).
21:21 . The results of the elections for the head of the Saratov region and deputies of the regional Duma at one of the Saratov polling stations may be declared invalid due to an attempt to stuff ballots from a member of the election commission.
“We received a message from one of the members of the election commission about an alleged attempt to stuff ballots. In order for the election results in a given precinct to be recognized as valid, it is now necessary to count the number of ballots and compare them with the register of voters. Members of the election commission, the human rights ombudsman and a member of the Civil Control association are working on site,” said the chairman of the regional election commission, Pavel Tochilkin.
21:06 . According to the exit poll, the acting governor of Sevastopol Dmitry Ovsyannikov wins the election of the head of the region with a result of 65.4% of the vote.
20:41 . Information about an attempt to stuff ballots at a polling station in Vladikavkaz has not been confirmed. This was announced by the Chairman of the Central Election Commission of North Ossetia, Zhanna Morgoeva.
“In fact, there was no stuffing; none of the observers confirmed this fact. The girl could not explain to us how she ended up with two ballots in her hands, and not one,” said Ms. Morgoeva. According to her, the ballots could have stuck together.
20:21 . After all the ballots have been processed, the current mayor, Aisen Nikolaev, nominated by United Russia, wins the election for the head of Yakutsk.
20:05 . As of 18:00, the hotline had received about 180 reports of violations, said CEC Secretary Maya Grishina. In total, the CEC information and reference center recorded 1,284 messages.
19:44 . Deputy Minister of Defense Nikolai Pankov commented on the mass voting of military personnel at polling stations in Moscow.
“There are no compulsions, and such a task is not worth it. We have places where we are doomed to deliver military personnel en masse; we have no other option. Of course, there are such cases, but such cases are isolated,” he noted.
19:36 . In Buryatia, the acting head of the republic Alexey Tsydenov is leading with 87.5% of the votes. In some regions of the republic, Mr. Tsydenov’s rating reaches 95%. The rivals of the acting nominee of the Communists of Russia Bato Bagdaev and the representative of the LDPR Sergei Dorosh gain only 5.2% and 4.4%, respectively. Voter turnout as of 20:00 was 40.2%.
19:28 . In Moscow, by 18:00, voter turnout was 12%.
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19:15 . Observers report massive stuffing at polling stations in North Ossetia. Those of them who try to interfere are removed from the polling stations under any pretext. In the village of Chikola, a stack of ballots was passed through the window from a polling station.
19:03 . In Yakutsk, where the mayor of the city was elected today, 81.5% of the protocols have already been counted. The current mayor Aisen Nikolaev is in the lead.
18:54 . The Election Commission of the Tomsk Region published the first preliminary results of the early gubernatorial elections. As of 22:00, Acting Governor Sergei Zhvachkin is gaining 56.36% of the votes (14.6 thousand voters), Alexey Didenko - 21.1% (5.5 thousand), Natalya Baryshnikova 12.36% (3.2 thousand), Alexander Rostovtsev - 7.89% (2.05 thousand).
18:45 . In Tutaev, where on September 10, along with the elections for the governor of the Yaroslavl region, a survey on renaming the city is being held (citizens are asked to answer whether they support the return of the historical name Romanov-Borisoglebsk to Tutaev), an attempt was recorded to stuff ballots in support of the renaming. Alexey Shapovalov, co-chairman of the movement “For Tutaev”, first secretary of the district committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, told Kommersant about this. According to him, a girl at one of the polling stations tried to throw in about 30 ballots for renaming the city. A stack of ballots was confiscated from her, and the girl herself was released.
18:36 . Deputies of the French National Assembly and Thierry Mariani and Nicolas Duic visited Sevastopol on election day. They visited several polling stations and actively posted photos from Sevastopol on Twitter. According to Russian laws, foreign observers cannot participate in local elections. The Sevastopol Election Commission clarified that the French are in the city “in the status of guests.”
18:14 . Deputy Commander of the Black Sea Fleet (BSF) for work with personnel Yuri Orekhovsky told reporters that the turnout in the elections for the governor of Sevastopol in the fleet, as of 14:00, was 90%. “These are not only Black Sea Fleet military personnel, but also civilian personnel who work in military units, as well as family members registered at the addresses of military units,” said Yuri Orekhovsky. In total, the turnout in the city as of 15:00 slightly exceeded 25% of the total number of voters.
18:05 . According to preliminary data from the city election commission, five parties overcome the 5% barrier in the elections to the Vladivostok Duma. After processing 23,870 ballots (a total of 446,454 voters are registered in the capital of Primorye), United Russia receives 29.73% of the votes, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation - 24.37%, the LDPR - 14.99%, the Russian Party of Pensioners for Social Justice - 10.15 %, “A Just Russia” - 9.19%. 35 deputies are to be elected to the Vladivostok Duma: 18 on party lists, 17 in single-mandate constituencies.
17:52 . In the Moscow Airport district, early voting in municipal elections was declared invalid. This was announced by the Chairman of the Moscow City Election Commission Valentin Gorbunov. As it became known, the day before the municipal commission mixed up the envelopes for a number of participants.
17:40 . At one polling station in Vladikavkaz, a member of the local election commission tried to throw a stack of ballots into a ballot box.
17:34 . In the Leningrad region, turnout in the by-elections to the State Duma in the Kingisepp single-mandate constituency, as of 16:00 Moscow time, was 13.23%, in the Bryansk single-mandate district (Bryansk region) - 20.24%.
17:15 . As CEC Secretary Maya Grishina told reporters, no critical violations were recorded on the single voting day. “The CEC has not received any complaints that require collegial consideration,” she added.
16:59 . Yabloko demands the resignation of the Chairman of the Moscow City Election Commission, Valentin Gorbunov, for deliberately reducing turnout in the elections in Moscow.
“This is the first time in history when absolutely nothing was known about the election campaign. It is very touching that the Central Election Commission was concerned about this a few days before the vote, but for several months nothing was done to let people know about it. Even the most basic things, announcements at entrances, which is always done, but there were none,” said deputy party chairman Nikolai Rybakov.
16:49 . The Yabloko party claims massive violations in municipal elections in Moscow. “Today an abnormal number of applications for ballot boxes has been recorded, for example in the Krasnoselsky district,” said the chairman of the Moscow branch of the party, Sergei Mitrokhin.
16:37 . At one of the polling stations in the Ivolginsky district of Buryatia, a member of the election commission suddenly died. The 65-year-old man felt unwell and died right at the polling station in front of voters.
16:29 . The turnout at the municipal elections in Moscow by 15:00 was 8.48%, Chairman of the Moscow City Election Commission Valentin Gorbunov said at a press conference.
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16:24 . In Tatarstan, the candidate from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in the by-elections to the Nizhnekamsk City Council, Elena Gatina, filed an application to the court to remove her opponent from the Communists of Russia, Rustem Abdullin, general director of Nizhnekamsk Bread Factory OJSC. According to her, the plant's products are being distributed at polling stations, which is bribery of voters. The trial will take place today. The head of the Tatarstan branch of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation sent a complaint to the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation regarding the fact of bribery.
16:08 . As of 15:00, 37.12% of voters voted in the election for governor of the Belgorod region. The weakest activity (20.65%) is in the industrial center of the region - Stary Oskol, where competitive elections to the city council are being held in parallel, and in Belgorod, where 23.78% of voters came to the polling stations. Rural areas traditionally vote more actively than others - in eight of them the turnout has already reached more than 60%.
15:40 . In Nizhny Tagil (Sverdlovsk region), self-nominated candidate for city Duma deputy in district No. 9 Vyacheslav Goryachkin contacted law enforcement agencies after his car was thrown with stones, and he himself was threatened with an iron rod. In the first half of the day, Mr. Goryachkin noticed a bus at one of the polling stations with campaigning for the candidate in the ninth district, Igor Temnov. On the body of the bus there is an inscription: “You vote for Temnov, you vote for Nosov (head of Nizhny Tagil - Kommersant-Ural).” Mr. Goryachkin tried to follow the bus, but his car was pelted with stones by the bus driver, and he himself threatened Vyacheslav Goryachkin and the journalist who was traveling with him with an iron rod. The head of the regional election commission, Valery Chainikov, said at a briefing for journalists that he knew nothing about the incident.
15:33 . As Kommersant correspondent in Kaliningrad Alexander Gmyrin reports, at one of the polling stations in the Kaliningrad region, an observer from a political party caused a scandal: he called the police names and interfered with the work of the precinct commission. Later he was taken to the police station. As it turned out, the observer was from the LDPR party. The head of the regional organization of the LDPR, Evgeny Mishin, has already apologized to the chairman of the regional election commission, Inessa Vinyarskaya. According to the latter, this is the only recorded incident so far.
15:25 . State Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Valery Rashkin sent three requests to Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika asking him to investigate violations in the elections.
15:07 . The Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, Tatyana Moskalkova, is dissatisfied with the lack of information about the elections in Moscow. During a visit to the 1895 polling station, she learned that utility services had received an order to remove information stands.
Maxim Katz (@max_katz) September 10, 2017
“Who exactly - we will deal with it. The State Budgetary Institution “Zhilishchnik” has given instructions to remove all information stands,” she noted.
14:58 In Sokolniki, in addition to PEC 1272, there are other polling stations with assigned military units and quite active military voting. At PEC 1275, out of 173 military men on the lists, 109 voted; at PEC 1276, out of 259 on the lists, 170 voted. turnout among the military is more than 50%.
Vladimir Putin came to the elections: the President votes for a municipal deputy pic.twitter.com/5gZ03tEWJC
— Dmitry Smirnov (@dimsmirnov175) September 10, 2017
14:53 . Lydia Sitnikova, a member of the Sokolniki TEC from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation with a decisive vote, told Kommersant: “Five military units with a total number of about 700 people are voting at polling station 1272. They are forced to vote according to the inserts in their passports for the United Russia team, and this is printed in a typographical manner indicating the persons, and is marked with a check mark for whom exactly should be ticked on the ballot. What else is characteristic of this situation: at the address at which voters from military units stationed in the Shchelkovsky district vote - at Matrosskaya Tishina, 10 - there has been no housing stock for many years.”
14:47 . Russian President Vladimir Putin also voted at polling station number 2151 in Moscow.
14:41 . Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and his wife Svetlana voted at a polling station in the Ramenki district at secondary school number 1448.
14:37 . The turnout at the elections of municipal deputies in Moscow at 12:00 was 3.6%.
14:24 . The institutions of the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Tomsk Region showed 100% turnout in the elections in the region. As the press service of the Tomsk Federal Penitentiary Service reported, according to the law, all citizens who are in custody and whose sentence has not yet entered into legal force can participate in voting.
Leader of the Communist Party of Russia (CPRF) Gennady Zyuganov during voting in the House of Creativity on Miussy
“Today, there are 384 people with the right to vote in regional institutions. In addition, the right to participate in voting was ensured for 48 suspects and accused in respect of whom a preventive measure in the form of house arrest was chosen. Voter turnout in institutions was 100%,” the department said in a statement.
14:15 . The leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov traditionally voted at the Palace of Children and Youth Creativity on Miussy in the center of Moscow.
14:07 . Representatives of the public organization “Observers of St. Petersburg” reported a massive supply of voters in the Kuzmolovsky urban settlement.
“The bus driver confirmed that this was an initiative of the local administration and even gave us a business card. The police do not consider this a violation,” the public organization said.
13:57 . The Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, Tatyana Moskalkova, achieved the holding of elections in the pre-trial detention center of the Altai Territory, where it was previously reported that they were not ready to hold a vote.
“Having reviewed the materials provided, Tatyana Moskalkova immediately sent an appeal to the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for the Altai Territory and the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Altai Territory, Boris Larin. According to the response received from the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia in the Altai Territory, on September 10, voting in the elections was organized by delivering ballot boxes to all pre-trial detention centers in the region,” the press service said in a statement.
13:40 . As Yevgeny Khvostik, a member of the election commission in Sokolniki, told Kommersant, military personnel vote en masse at polling station 1272 in Moscow.
“Members of the TEC with voting rights from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and Yabloko will demand clarification from the leadership of the TEC about the situation, up to the cancellation of the results in this area. The issue of using administrative resources will be raised,” added Mr. Khvostik.
13:26 . In the elections of deputies of the Sakhalin Regional Duma, after processing 19% of the protocols, United Russia is in the lead - 77.11%. The LDPR has 8.42%, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation - 4.45% and “For Women of Russia” - 2.16%.
13:15 . Meanwhile, in the east of the country, vote counters turned on.
13:05 . Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin voted in the municipal elections.
“Today there are local government elections in Moscow - elections to district councils. This is a very important body that controls the work of management companies, district administrations, clinics, schools and actively participates in the improvement of their districts,” Mr. Sobyanin told reporters.
12:55 . In the Republic of Adygea, the head of the region was elected by secret ballot. 48 out of 48 deputies of the State Council voted for the candidacy of Murat Kumpilov, who previously served as the head of the republic.
12:25 . One of the candidates for municipal deputies in Moscow bit members of the precinct election commission, for which he was removed from the polling station.
“In Dorogomilov, at polling station 2559, the Yabloko candidate was removed by the staff. He attacked members of the PEC, beating and biting them. Law enforcement agencies are engaged,” said Chairman of the Moscow City Election Commission Valentin Gorbunov.
12:18 . There have been no complaints about the procedure for conducting exit polls, said Viktor Kushko, Chairman of the Central Election Commission of Udmurtia. Information has appeared on social networks that allegedly conducting polls are interested in the personal data of voters. “Several companies notified the CEC about the conduct of exit polls. But you need to understand that polls should be conducted without personal data and at a distance from polling stations,” said Mr. Kushko.
12:01 . In the Saratov region, where the head of the region and deputies of the regional Duma are elected, members of the election commission fought at polling station 87. As stated by the press secretary of the regional election commission, Tatyana Komoltseva, an investigation into this fact is being carried out.
11:40 . On Sakhalin, as of 18:00 local time (10:00 Moscow time), eight complaints were registered.
“Currently, eight complaints have been registered, seven of them have been considered... There is a serious complaint - information in the media about bribery of voters. All information has been sent to the police,” RIA Novosti quotes a representative of the regional election commission.
11:23. Meanwhile, turnout in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky is still very low. By 18:00 local time, only 14.62% of voters managed to vote.
11:21. In Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, at polling station 52, where military personnel voted en masse in the elections of city duma deputies, a serviceman tried to vote twice, the Kam 24 agency reports. The offender was detained, but two officers soon approached him and released him.
11:02. In three regions, it was decided to extend the opening hours of polling stations. In the Kaliningrad region, voting will take place from 07:00 to 21:00 local time. Elections in Karelia and the Perm Territory have been extended by two hours. Here voters will be able to vote until 22:00 local time.
10:45. Chairman of the Moscow City Election Commission (MGEC) Valentin Gorbunov reported that 0.14% of voters in Moscow voted early.
10:41. According to the head of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation, Ella Pamfilova, more than 220 thousand Russians wanted to vote outside their place of registration on September 10. This year, in some regions, this can be done without an absentee certificate: the voter was required to write an application to the local election commission no later than five and no earlier than 45 days before the election.
10:35. The turnout in the Republic of Yakutia at 15:00 local time (9:00 Moscow time) is 29.57%. The most active voters are residents of Suntarsky, Momsky, Amginsky, Vilyuisky, Nyurba, Ust-Aldansky and Srednekolymsky districts.
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10:26. Voter turnout in the elections of deputies of the State Council of Udmurtia is 4.78%, which is lower than in 2016, when at 10:00 the turnout in the State Duma elections was 6.85%.
The highest turnout is observed in the Karakulinsky district - 13.02%, in the Yukamensky district - 10.78%, in the Alnashsky district - 9.78%. Among the cities of the republic, the leader is Sarapul - 5.44%, Mozhga - 4.99%, Glazov - 4.68%, Votkinsk - 4.22%. In Izhevsk, 2.48% of voters visited polling stations. According to the Chairman of the Central Election Commission of Udmurtia, Viktor Kushko, traditionally voter turnout in cities is lower than in villages. “Overall, turnout is slightly lower than during the 2012 and 2014 campaigns. This is predictable,” commented Viktor Kushko.
10:08. The first turnout results are appearing. In Vladivostok, where city council deputies are being elected, residents are not yet rushing to the polling stations, but in Yakutsk about a quarter of voters had already come to vote in the mayoral elections by 14:00 local time (08:00 Moscow time).
10:02. Elections at various levels are being held today in 82 constituent entities of Russia.
Experts predict low voter turnout, which is associated with the almost complete absence of campaigning and strong competition in many regions. Thus, the head of the Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova, reprimanded the leadership of the Moscow election commission for the “failure of the information campaign.” Many problems arose when candidates conducted campaigning - among the violations during the pre-election period, the Golos movement highlighted the use of administrative resources, obstruction of candidates' campaign activities, pressure on candidates and voters, as well as hidden campaigning.
On September 10, 2017, the Unified Voting Day, elections at different levels will be held in Russia. What will the turnout be in the upcoming elections and what influences its level? Experts spoke about this at a press conference in Moscow, during which a report from the Foundation for the Study of Democracy was presented with a forecast of turnout in the upcoming gubernatorial elections in Russian regions, FBA reports. "Economy Today" .
Member of the Public Chamber of Russia, director of the Foundation for Research on Democracy Problems Maxim Grigoriev immediately named the regions with the highest turnout. According to him, residents of Saratov, Sevastopol and Belgorod are most active. “In most cases, our preliminary forecast corresponds to forecasts in the regions themselves,” noted Maxim Grigoriev. — It should be noted that, for example, in the mayoral elections of Yekaterinburg in 2013, the presence of Roizman among the candidates did not in any way affect voter turnout. As for the elections in the Kirov region, where the post of governor was held by Nikita Belykh, in 2014, even despite this figure, the turnout was no more than 30%.”
“For Sevastopol, the issue of elections is urgent, because in our city there has never been a popular election of the city governor. Therefore, I agree with the assessment that we fall into the first group in terms of turnout and activity in the gubernatorial elections. Our research shows that we will have a turnout at the elections of more than 40%,” Anatoly Lavrik, a member of the Public Chamber of Sevastopol, a member of the working group “For Fair Elections,” confirmed the forecast.
Another reason for the high predicted turnout for the elections was highlighted by Alexander Brod, a member of the Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights under the President of Russia. He is sure that the economic situation in the region influences the activity of the population: the higher the economic growth, the higher the voter turnout: “Look how much Saransk has changed over the past 15 years. The voter sees development and begins to trust their candidates more.”
At the same time, there are significant shortcomings in the organization of the electoral process. As Igor Borisov, a member of the Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights under the President of Russia, emphasized, “turnout is not an indicator of the legality or, conversely, the conduct of elections. It is a pity that the election commission system has not penetrated the Internet. Therefore, the district level of elections is in limbo. Although there are not a lot of resources for this.”
Borisov emphasized that turnout also depends on how the elections are presented on the Internet. Also, the desire to come and vote depends on the political culture of the region. “Having analyzed several regions, we came to the conclusion that turnout is unique in each region. One can highlight the stable behavior of voters, for example in Khanty-Mansiysk, where the turnout at polling stations is always average.”
The Unified Voting Day has ended in Russia. Based on the results of the elections of regional heads, as well as regional and municipal elections on September 10, 2017, expert assessments were divided into two categories. Some talk about “absolute normality” and “artificial excitement” around low voter turnout; for others, it becomes the basis for statements about the actual referendum nature past voting and the true indifference of the population to the outcome of the elections. The minimization of turnout, which was partly observed in some regions of the country, is also called one of the possible mechanisms for "running in" future presidential elections in the country. Details - in the material Nakanune.RU.
General Director of the Agency for Political and Economic Communications Dmitry Orlov noted that voter turnout rates in the current elections - "quite normal for local or regional elections."
“In some places, the turnout, according to preliminary data, even exceeded the corresponding figures for similar campaigns in previous years. For example, in the regional elections in the Saratov region, 46.03% of voters had voted by 18:00, while in 2012, in the elections of regional Duma deputies, the corresponding figure was "The same time amounted to only 36.54%. And, of course, it is extremely strange to compare the turnout in regional and, especially, local elections with similar indicators in federal ones. Different agendas, different attitudes of voters towards these campaigns are the basics," - Orlov says.
United Russia calls turnout rates in the constituent entities of the Federation “absolutely normal” for any democratic country and comparable to similar figures in regional elections in France or Great Britain. In particular, this was previously stated by Vice Speaker of the State Duma Peter Tolstoy.
Based on the results of the elections, many experts are in favor of "naturalness", including in relation to turnout, declaring that “unnatural” habits of driving people to elections with the help of administrative resources are worse than low turnout and only “rape” the political system.
In particular, this opinion was voiced by a political scientist at the Election Night online marathon Pavel Danilin. “Who needs municipal elections in Moscow? These are people whom no one has ever seen, no one wants to go vote for them, so we have 10-12%, which is already good in such a situation. The more natural the turnout, even minimal, the more positive", - he commented.
Another political scientist, president of the St. Petersburg Politics Foundation Mikhail Vinogradov also noted that the turnout in general was “quite expected and more or less natural.” “The regions have different traditions - let’s see what happens in Mordovia or Belgorod. But turnout is fighting with electoral tradition,” - he said.
Deputy of the Council of Deputies of the Moscow Region Tagansky in Moscow Ilya Sviridov, in turn, is optimistic about the results of the elections in Moscow. In his opinion, expectedly low turnout“did not happen” in the elections of municipal deputies in the capital, around which there is so much controversy.
“There was a surge in turnout. This is some new event, because Moscow usually sets new standards for conducting political struggle. Despite the fact that everyone is accustomed to scolding this second Sunday of September and voting day, the fact that the campaigning itself falls on the main month, when everyone is in vacations. Despite this, in many districts of Moscow it turned out to be a really interesting, competitive election campaign. “United Russia, despite all their political technologies, was not able to take as many mandates as they expected,” - he commented.
The municipal deputy emphasized that in some areas of Moscow the turnout was above 20%, that is, higher than in the elections to the Moscow City Duma. “What happened in Moscow will happen in Russia. This means that opposition parties have learned to bring voters to the “terrible” September elections. New elections are ahead, in which the Internet plays a big role,” - Sviridov believes.
It is worth noting that not only the global network is singled out as an important and positive tool in the struggle to change the political structure in the country. The Minchenko Consulting agency also drew attention to the positive technologies of the past election campaign in the regions. Thus, the authors of reports on “Politburo 2.0” called the experiment conducted in the Sverdlovsk region with drawings of apartments and cars at polling stations interesting. In addition, Minchenko Consulting notes the positive experience of returning "against all" columns in municipal elections in Norilsk. By the way, the holding’s experts estimate the turnout to be “within reason” and “without extremes.”
At the same time, political scientists consider the main lesson of the municipal campaign in Moscow "drying turnout". In the presence of a campaign by an opponent targeting an ideologically charged and motivated group of voters, such technology can lead to unpredictable results. " Let me note that exactly the same lesson could have been learned from the 2013 mayoral campaign. But they didn’t extract him,” reports the telegram channel "Politburo 2.0".
The past elections in Moscow, in the assessment of many experts, appeared as "arid and abnormally quiet", and direct participants in the election campaign from the opposition announced a “conscious decrease in turnout” on the part of the mayor’s office and the Moscow City Election Commission. Such mechanisms for minimizing turnout, which were partly tested in Moscow, can be used in the election campaign next spring, he suggested in a commentary Nakanune.RU Director of the Center for Political Science Research of the Financial University Pavel Salin.
He highlighted several points that were tested in the current regional elections and “can be used next spring if the dynamics of mass protest activity do not change.”
"First of all, it's running in mechanism for legitimizing election results. Until July, the mechanism on which the Presidential Administration relied was one: the higher the turnout, the higher the level of legitimacy of the elections,” - he said. However, over the past two months, the “attitude” has changed, according to the new formula: “low, low turnout is not an indicator of the legitimacy of the elections.” "The most important indicator is the absence of serious intra-elite conflicts. That is, the most important selection that a candidate must go through is not the electoral one, but the selection among the elite. In this case, the elections should be referendum nature and confirm the choice of the elite," commented Saleen.
This is what happened, for example, in the gubernatorial elections, when candidates who could concentrate the support of counter-elites were removed from the elections. This manifested itself, first of all, in the Sverdlovsk region and Buryatia. “This is probably how the presidential campaign will be structured if the election goes to Vladimir Putin... The authorities came to a strategic decision that, despite the growing demand for change in society, the risks of implementing such requests exceed the risks of maintaining the status quo. After the presidential elections, in particular, this will be projected onto the electoral campaign. For such a mechanism to be successful, it is necessary to minimize turnout at elections in large cities in order to so that rural areas and national republics make a certain contribution to the result of the candidate from power,” - the political scientist expressed his opinion.
That is, the “trend”, which was partly reflected in the elections on September 10, is minimizing turnout with the aim of subsequently legitimizing the election results. “But there is one big problem here, it seems to me that the Kremlin understands it. You cannot automatically apply the mechanisms for legitimizing elections at the regional and municipal level to the mechanism for presidential elections. We have the same attitude of the population towards governors, especially towards municipal deputies; "to the president, it's different. It may very well be that these mechanisms will not work as effectively as they do today, even if nothing changes," - Saleen added.
The Moscow City Hall, of course, “ruined the image of the elections,” since “there is a well-established opinion that they deliberately disrupted the elections,” says Member of the Public Chamber Sergei Markov. At the same time, he noted that the municipal elections in Moscow were almost the only campaign of interest abroad. Otherwise, in the West, in his opinion, there is no interest in these elections, since “they are absolutely sure that all the governors will win with a huge gap. "So all this is happening, everything has the character of a referendum", - he thinks.
The opposition traditionally points out the shortcomings of the past election campaign. The parliamentary systemic opposition declares the need electoral system changes, and those who are not connected, according to some political scientists, by a “parliamentary cartel”, even talk about the obvious failure of the vote.
So, Director of the Institute of Contemporary Economics Nikita Isaev called the elections “disgusting and disastrous.” “The presidential campaign is starting. If these elections were tested as an understanding of what the reaction to this would be in the world or in Russia, it is obvious that this is a failure... There is an absolute loss of public confidence in the electoral system. It doesn’t matter what level - municipal, regional or gubernatorial... Good , that they held such disgusting elections so that the next ones would not be so", - he stated.
The Vice Speaker of the State Duma made more “milder” criticism Olga Epifanova. She noted a significant “culturalization” of campaigning, but pointed out a number of problems in municipal elections. In particular, the deputy from A Just Russia did not agree with the thesis about the smaller role of “administrative resources” in these elections.
“Any administrative pressure that is applied to people makes the elections even more dark. People are already tired, people are indifferent, they have a clear, stereotypical opinion that nothing depends on them, and this opinion, multiplied by the testimony of friends, that they are being persecuted and forced to vote, makes them forget about voting, as if it were a shock,” Epifanova commented.
She called “postponing voting day to September” a big mistake. “People want to get the last rays of the sun, cook something, communicate with nature,” - the deputy emphasized. In her opinion, holding elections in March would be optimal. She also added that people are “insanely annoyed” by the lack of “counts against everyone”.
The Communist Party of the Russian Federation is also confident that the country will face “profanation” in the presidential elections if adjustments to the electoral legislation are not adopted. “We are working for the future, but the authorities must clearly understand that with such a turnout, with such approaches to electoral legislation, with the reluctance to change the political rules that have been established, there will be no serious success either in the presidential elections or in others. It will simply be profanation ", - stated Deputy Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Yuri Afonin.
Political scientists, by the way, believe that the current elections will be another a serious challenge for the Communist Party.“If the information about the “third place” of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation is confirmed, this will be a serious challenge for the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. This will be the second point. The first is the parliamentary elections, the results of which for them can be regarded as unsuccessful. The Communists made a strategic mistake several years ago when they did not update the party leadership, because the party leadership needs it, and the authorities find such leadership of pensioners without ambition convenient,” - commented Nakanune.RU Pavel Salin.
In his opinion, if the Communist Party of the Russian Federation takes “third place” based on the results of the elections, this “increases the likelihood that it will not be Zyuganov, but his potential successor, who will be the communist candidate for the presidential election.” “There is no other way, otherwise the party will give up on itself,” - added the expert.
The LDPR supports the idea of postponing the elections to the spring. As noted State Duma deputy Mikhail Degtyarev, the low turnout in most regions in the elections on September 10, 2017 showed “the attitude of people towards these elections.”
“If we talk about the gubernatorial elections, then, judging by the results, they were successful and were of a referendum type. Obviously, the municipal filter that exists, the structure that was organized by the Presidential Administration and the internal political bloc, made it possible to create a campaign that led to results , where both 70 and 80% vote for governors,” - said the parliamentarian.
In his opinion, “we can safely put question of returning the appointment of governors after such a campaign." “The only bearer of legitimate power is the president, his word, his support for his nominees gives such results in any region of the country,” - Degtyarev said.
"Close to the Kremlin" political scientist Andrey Kolyadin considers the campaign a “good rehearsal” for the upcoming presidential elections. “If we talk about presidential elections, then more people always come there. This is a very correct training that will allow the next elections to be held fairly,” - the political scientist summarized during Election Night.
Let us remind you that elections at different levels were held in Russia on September 10 in 82 of 85 regions of Russia. The exceptions were St. Petersburg, Ingushetia and the Magadan region. In total, during 5.8 thousand election campaigns at the regional and municipal levels, about 36.7 thousand mandates will be replaced.
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