Excerpts of the Statement concerning illegitimate interference of the executive authorities in the electoral processes

On May 20, the movement ‘Golos’ has published the second Statement on the Election Observation results in the Russian regions, including - the UR Primaries. We would like to present the main points.

The interference of officials, executive agencies or other public authorities in the work of election commissions, as well as the activities of some political parties related to the preliminary election (primaries) and the nomination of candidates has become an integral part of electoral processes in the Russian regions.

In many regions you can easily find information concerning the heads of territorial entities and their administration staff personally intervening in the preparatory work of the political party ‘United Russia’ for the upcoming election, in the UR Primaries and sometimes even in the ‘manual mode’ taking control over it.

State and municipal officials are imposed to provide appropriate assistance to the ‘party of power’ and its nominees.

In some regions, there were some attempts to establish and maintain ‘election offices’ under the auspices of regional and local administration, implicating obvious interference in the work of election commissions or mobilization of voters in favour of one of the political players.

Some practice seems dubious, when the head or deputy head of regional or local administration chairs the election headquarters of some candidates or parties.

The election commissions, responsible for holding elections, and the municipal administration deliberately or indeliberately advantaging the party ‘United Russia’.

Some facts were revealed regarding the illegitimate intervention of the former regional administration officials in the electoral process and their contribution to the unofficially established electoral funds to support the pro-governmental candidates.

Some public statements of regional leaders raise concern, as they are giving guidance to party members, as well as to potential candidates of the UR. Considering the speeches of some regional government leaders, the non-parliamentary parties as mentioned before are treated in discriminatory manner.

Here you can find the Full text