The administrative resource is gaining momentum, and independent candidates continue to face registration denials

This is the second overview of reports of possible violations of electoral legislation gathered via the 'Map of Violations' by the Movement in Defense of Voters' Rights 'Golos' between August 2 and August 8. The Map is a project that collects information about possible electoral violations using the principle of crowdsourcing – observers, voters, members of commissions may report alleged violations witnessed during electoral campaigning or voting using a submission form on the website or a telephone hotline. Pre-moderated submissions are published on https://www.kartanarusheniy.org/.

Between August 2 and August 8, 129 messages were received by the Map of Violations.

Typology of violations

The typology of potential violations is as follows (one message may constitute more than one type of violation):

• Abuse of administrative resources – 82;
• Violations of the rules of campaigning in the media – 28;
• Violations of the rules of street and outdoor campaigning – 19;
• Wrongful refusals of registration and violation of the candidate's rights – 18;
• Pressure from the authorities, coercion, bribery of voters – 13;
• Interference of law enforcement agencies – 4;
• Violations while collecting signatures – 1;
• Violation of the rights of members of the commission, observers, media – 1.

The regional breakdown is as follows:

• Moscow Oblast – 24;
• Krasnodarskiy Krai – 15;
• Samara Oblast – 10;
• Novosibirsk Oblast – 9;
• Moscow – 8;
• Petersburg – 8;
• Oryol Oblast – 5.

Main trends

More and more prospective opposition candidates are unable to register. These instances are mainly reported with regard to the upcoming regional and local elections. For instance, similar reports came from the Republic of Bashkortostan, St. Petersburg, Pskov, Tver, Moscow, Chelyabinsk, and Irkutsk Oblasts.

There are a growing number of signals that the administrations of various regions and municipalities are supporting the United Russia party in every possible way. This is expressed both in campaigning, including in the information resources of the authorities, and in assistance in holding meetings with voters and other pre-election events. Such reports came from 33 regions, while Moscow Oblast (20 reports) and the Krasnodarskiy Krai (9 reports) particularly stood out.

The number of reports about possible violations by the media is also increasing – 28 reports. Basically, we are talking about hidden campaigning in favor of United Russia. Submissions came from Krasnodarskiy Krai and Primorskiy Krai, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Ryazan, and Samara oblasts.

TOP 5 violations of the week

A scandalous story took place¹ in Pskov Oblast with the nomination of one of the leaders of the Yabloko party, Lev Shlosberg, to the Regional Assembly. On August 3, the Pskov Oblast Election Commission refused to register Schlosberg, as well as another Yabloko member, Nikolai Kuzmin, as candidates for the regional parliament. The election commission established 'the involvement of candidates in the activities of a public association carrying out extremist activities' on the basis of a letter from the Ministry of Justice. At the same time, on the same day, Lev Shlosberg was registered by the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation (CEC) as a candidate to the State Duma in a single-mandate district.

On August 4, after widespread criticism in the media and on social networks, the Pskov Oblast Election Commission amended its resolution and reinstated Schlosberg and Kuzmin on the list of candidates.

In St. Petersburg, another Yabloko leader, Boris Vishnevskiy, was not registered² as a candidate to the city Legislative Assembly. According to the election commission, Vishnevskiy submitted an incorrectly executed decision and approval of the party for his nomination. At the same time, Vishnevskiy was registered for the elections to the State Duma with a similar package of documents. The candidate himself considers the commission's actions politically motivated in the interests of the authorities of St. Petersburg. Earlier in this district, two so-called 'doubles'³ candidates were registered that changed their surnames to 'Vishnevskiy.' At the same time, other candidates demanded that Boris Vishnevskiy be removed from the election race.

A small Siberian city has become the leader in terms of the number of 'extremist candidates.' In the local elections in Berdsk, in the Novosibirsk Oblast, the election commission did not register several candidates at once due to suspicions of 'extremism.' On August 2, the election commission denied registration⁴ to Olga Nechaeva (District No. 2), Vyacheslav Yakimenko (District No. 5), Ilya Pukhovskiy (District No. 11), and Sergei Kosov (District No. 19). On August 4, the refusal was received⁵ by the candidates for District No. 26 Daniil Markelov and for District No. 9 Olga Surnacheva. On August 5, prospective candidates Timofey Kazantsev (District No. 14), Irina Selishcheva (District No. 18), Mikhail Ryazantsev (District No. 4), and Ekaterina Aleksandrova (District No. 25) were denied registration. ⁶ The basis was the letters from the Ministry of Justice. The letter indicates the alleged involvement of candidate hopefuls with 'extremist' organizations.

In Krasnodarskiy Krai, current United Russia deputies are forced to phone bank⁷ voters and record their loyalty to the party. For this, a special system is used, which contains detailed instructions on how to conduct a conversation, how to record answers, and rank people according to their 'reliability' as United Russia voters. It remains a mystery where the United Russia party got the voters' phones from and who is behind the financing and development of this system.

On August 2, the Telegram channel Pskovskaya guberniya published screenshots⁸ of the document 'Methodological recommendations for the implementation of information and explanatory activities,' which should be used by administrators of various levels for campaigning in the elections of deputies of the State Duma among their subordinates. The document is marked 'Not for distribution.'

References:

¹ https://www.kartanarusheniy.org/2021-09-19/m/58061

² https://www.kartanarusheniy.org/2021-09-19/m/58106

³ A 'double' is a candidate that appears with a similar name on the ballot, registered presumably to confuse voters - REM

⁴ https://www.kartanarusheniy.org/2021-09-19/m/58020

⁵ https://www.kartanarusheniy.org/2021-09-19/m/58098

⁶ https://www.kartanarusheniy.org/2021-09-19/m/58120

⁷ https://www.kartanarusheniy.org/2021-09-19/m/58039

⁸ https://www.kartanarusheniy.org/2021-09-19/m/58046

The original text may be found here: https://www.golosinfo.org/articles/145382 (RU)