Express review of the second and beginning of the third voting days on 16-17 March

During the second and beginning of the third day of voting, Golos, the Movement in defense of voters' rights, received 266 reports on alleged violations of electoral legislation.

Based on the Golos report, we summarize the key trends observed during the second and the beginning of the third voting days.

The top five regions by the number of reports of possible violations on the "Map of Violations" on 16-17 March are:

1. Moscow City - 35

2. Krasnodar Krai - 32

3. St. Petersburg - 21

4. Moscow Region - 18

5. Samara Region - 15

MAIN TRENDS OF THE SECOND/BEGINNING OF THE THIRD VOTING DAYS

1. Mobilization of voters by 'carrots' and 'sticks'

The distribution of turnout over time indicates that the mass coercion of voters to vote took place mainly on Friday, 15 March (workday) - the first out of three voting days. This assumption is also supported by the remote e-voting (REV)Read Term in glossary data: by the end of 16 March, the share of ballots cast by citizens voting over the REV method increased from 60 to 88%.

On the second and third days of voting, various instruments of positive motivation (‘carrots’) come to the fore, primarily large-scale quizzes and contests with major prizes. Given that lotteries are held in precinct election commissions (PEC)Read Term in glossary buildings, it can be argued that they are aimed at increasing turnout with the possibility of controlling it.

2. Anomalies and discrepancies in turnout

By the end of 15 March, a discrepancy of almost two million votes was reported between the GAS Vybory system data and the official values announced by the CEC. In addition, on 16 March, the media, citing the Russian CEC, reported that 859 PECs across the country did not reveal the turnout on the first voting day at all. Most of them are located in Moscow (145), followed by St. Petersburg (101) and the Moscow Region (49).

Striking data comes out of the preliminary analysis of the turnout. In several regions, unnaturally similar turnout results were observed at dozens of neighboring polling stations, which is usually a consequence of data falsification. This happens in the regions that have a traditionally high (and supposedly rigged) turnout and an extremely bad reputation among independent election observers: Ingushetia, Tyva, Belgorod Oblast, Kemerovo Oblast, to name a few.

3. Signs of possible fraud and the first ballot box stuffing

On the evening of 16 March, Golos' Map of Violations received a message from an observer in Krasnodar reporting a case of ballot stuffing. Notably, members of the election commission tried to prevent the video recording of the crime. A video with a stack of ballots in a stationary box, which may indicate alleged ballot stuffing, was filmed at another polling station in Krasnodar. In St. Petersburg, upon completion of the voting on 16 March, observers prevented the stuffing of a prepared stack of falsified ballots that the election commission members were planning on. As a result, the chairperson and secretary of the commission simply left the polling station, leaving the ballots under police guard.

4. Violence at PECs and spoiling of ballots

Despite enhanced security measures, on the second voting day voters continued to set fires at PECs using Molotov cocktails, as well as pouring green paint and ink on ballot boxes. According to police reports, citizens who carried out those acts of vandalism were detained, placed under arrest and criminal cases were launched under Article 141 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (for “obstructing the exercise of electoral rights or the work of election commissions”).

Voters also face violence at polling stations on the part of police officers. Thus, at the polling station in the Serebryanka microdistrict in Pushkin, Moscow Region, voter Konstantin Kirillov was arrested for three days. The pretext for this was a certain (supposedly offensive) slogan written by him on the ballot paper. At a PEC in Odintsovo, Moscow Region, a voter wrote the word "boycott" in the box provided for signatures in the voter list, after which he tried to carry his ballot paper away from the polling station. The commission members called the police; the voter was detained and taken to the police station.

5. Obstruction of public control of elections

Just like the first, the second voting day took place in an almost total absence of independent public observers at polling stations. After even observers from Putin and the state-controlled Civic Chamber left the polling stations in several regions, the voting procedure there became completely non-transparent and closed.

Where independent observers (or commission members) did appear at polling stations, various types of pressure and obstruction of their activities were reported. In St. Petersburg and Voronezh, territorial commissions prohibited PEC members from filming and photographing in polling stations. In Moscow, a PEC chair demanded her PEC fellow receive a warning for helping a voter file a complaint about the work of the commission.

In Novosibirsk, a CPRF observer was denied access to the voter list. In St. Petersburg, a PEC chair filed a court petition demanding the removal of a member of the commission from the opposition Yabloko party. In Moscow, an observer from CPRF was detained after she refused to obey an unlawful request by the commission chair not to walk around the polling station. The observer was charged with obstructing the work of the election commission.

6. Voting in the occupied territories

Unlawful voting in the Russian presidential “election” continues in the occupied territories of Ukraine - Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhya regions. The Russian Central Election Commission has been rather succinct about the voting process there, reporting that more than 2 million voters have cast their ballots and that “despite difficulties”, voting continues.

Experts and international community repeatedly emphasized that voting in the occupied Ukrainian regions as well as methods of its realization are illegal. Russian CEC allows voting in the presidential “election” in these territories not only to holders of Russian passports but also to holders of Ukrainian passports and other identity documents, including driver's licenses. Numerous photo and video evidence exist in the media showing that voting is conducted outside voting premises – in the courtyards and car hoods. People in military uniforms holding weapons patrol the polling stations and accompany the ‘mobile’ election commissions. It is impossible to speak of any respect for electoral rights in the occupied territories.

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During the election campaign, Golos received more than 1,500 reports from voters about violations. The distribution of leadership in terms of messages to the "Map of Violations" is as follows:

1. Ryazan Region - 114
2. Moscow - 109
3. St. Petersburg - 104
4. Krasnodar Region - 97
5. Moscow Region - 91