Map of Violations: the fight against observers in Moscow, and United Russia's secret plans in Kirov

During the week, the flow of complaints on the "Map of Violations" did not decrease, receiving 10 to 20 reports every day from various regions. The topic of elections in the Russian information space was overshadowed by the events of the “special military operation”. Nevertheless, the election campaign is proceeding at its own pace, and the trends of violations are in many ways similar to those of previous years.

During the week of August 9-15, the "Map of Violations," an online service of Golos, received 93 reports from 23 regions. In total, 335 messages have been published since the start of the "Map of Violations" on July 9 this year.

Statistics

(One and the same action may contain signs of several types of violations):

• Violations of the rules of campaigning in the media – 4 7;
• Unlawful denials of registration and violation of candidate's rights – 16;
• Abuse of administrative resources – 13;
• Violations of the rules of print and outdoor agitation – 7;
• Impact of law enforcement agencies – 3;
• Pressure from superiors, coercion, bribery of voters – 3;
• Violation of the rights of commission members, observers, and the media – 1;
• Other violations – 16.

Leading regions in number of reports:

• Moscow – 23;
• Kirov region – 16;
• Krasnodar Krai – 10;
• Udmurt Republic – 6;
• Omsk Oblast – 5;
• Tambov Oblast – 5.

Main Trends

• Moscow remained the leader in the number of reports received this week as well. Most of these were related to the illegal denial of registration and pressure on independent candidates.
• The most common violation was again hidden campaigning in the media for “United Russia” and administrative candidates. Such reports were received from 19 regions.
• As the election approaches, reports of coercion to vote and pressure from superiors on voters have begun to emerge.

Top 5 violations

The Moscow City Election Commission adopted a "Procedure for conducting remote electronic voting" which does not provide for the appointment of observers by registered candidates and electoral associations to the city commission, in violation of Article 7 of the CEC Requirements for remote electronic voting. Thus, both the candidates and the observers appointed by them are deprived of the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the voter list after the completion of voting.

Also in Moscow, in the Konkovo district, there are active obstacles to the training of members of commissions with voting rights from opposition parties to work with electronic lists. In most cases, they are not informed about the very possibility of training. At the same time, the chairmen of the commissions (possibly erroneously) claim that all untrained PECs will be suspended from working with the lists. Later, similar messages began to come from other districts, which may indicate a systematic preparation of election organizers to restrict access to the voter lists.

On 9 August in Krasnodar, Ivan Kalashnikov, a CPRF candidate for the Legislative Assembly, was detained while campaigning with a cube. He was taken to the police station on Karasunskaya Street where they confiscated the propaganda cube and drew up a report under Article 20.2 Part 1 of the Code of Administrative Offences (Violation by the organizer of a public event of the established procedure of organization, or holding of a meeting, rally, demonstration, march, or picketing). Kalashnikov reports that earlier CPRF candidates in Krasnodar applied for holding campaign events in a rally format, but all of them failed to be approved. As an alternative, the administration offered to hold events in Maple Square. The square is located at the exit from the city, 11 kilometres from the electoral district, located in the centre.

In Kirov, the “United Russia” party prepared a strategy for its candidates and their campaign staff for the elections of the Kirov City Duma. It is noteworthy that this guidebook contains targets for mobilizing the electorate, including those involving both budgetary resources and private business. The sources for mobilization include, among others: municipal, regional, and federal agencies, management of enterprises, trade union committees, and the drive.

Party strategists also urge their candidates to use "black pyar" against competitors, especially from the "Just Russia" party.

And in Yekaterinburg, they decided to campaign for the incumbent Governor Evgeny Kuyvashev among even the youngest townspeople. His campaign poster appeared at the entrance to the city's kindergarten No. 391.

As a reminder, the "Map of Violations" service publishes information about possible violations of electoral legislation. This collection of information is based on the principle of crowdsourcing: observers, voters, and members of commissions report violations noticed during election campaigns and at polling stations on election day by means of a form on the site and a phone hotline: 8 800 333-33-50. The reports then undergo pre-moderation.