Almost 100% of the capital’s PECs will be updated by the start of the presidential campaign

This week in Moscow the acceptance of documents from parties and public organizations wishing to nominate candidates for the new composition of precinct election commissions (PECs) will begin. The renewal of 1.9 thousand out of 2 thousand precinct election commissions in the capital should be completed before the start of the 2024 presidential election campaign, which officially starts in mid-December. All parliamentary parties have a legally guaranteed quota in the composition of election commissions, but just in case, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation calls on the comrades responsible for this process to carefully prepare documents, fearing “nit-picking” against their nominees.

Let us recall that before the recent mayoral elections in Moscow, polling stations were optimized, as a result of which their number was reduced from 3.4 thousand to 2 thousand. This also entailed a reduction in the number of PEC members – from 45 thousand to 32 thousand people. 1.9 thousand commissions, which in 2024 will have to organize the March voting in the presidential elections and the September elections to the Moscow City Duma, must be updated.

In accordance with the federal law on guarantees of electoral rights, PECs are formed for five years, but if the commission’s term of office expires during the election period in which it is involved, its powers are extended until the end of this campaign. The Federation Council must adopt a resolution calling presidential elections for March 17, 2024 90–100 days before this date, that is, between December 8 and 18, 2023. The rotation in the capital’s PECs should be completed before this point, since the powers of most of the renewed commissions expire in the first ten days of December. As Dmitry Reut, deputy chairman of the Moscow City Election Commission (MGEC), explained to Kommersant, according to the law, the reorganization of the PEC should be completed by mid-December. According to him, on average, Moscow precinct commissions employ 14–16 people.

Some party members, however, hoped that the existing PECs would work during the presidential elections. As Nikolai Volkov, secretary of the Moscow city committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, told Kommersant, the IPCC “verbally” convinced the party that the powers of the PEC would be extended for another year, since there was very little time left before the presidential election campaign. “But in fact, they unexpectedly raised the question of reorganizing the election commissions this year,” the communist complained. Dmitry Reut, however, assured Kommersant that all deadlines and procedures for updating the PEC are provided for by law and “the IPCC strictly observes them.”

The selection of candidates for PECs will be carried out by territorial election commissions (TECs). They are obliged to appoint half of the new members based on proposals from party members, and a guaranteed quota is given to parties whose lists are admitted to the distribution of mandates in the State Duma, Moscow City Duma or local governments. However, the Moscow City Duma and district councils in Moscow are elected only by majority constituencies, so only the parliamentary “five” have such a quota in the capital’s election commissions.

United Russia traditionally proposes candidates to all PECs, and all its nominees are appointed. The opposition does not always succeed in achieving 100% coverage of polling stations.

The Moscow City Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation has already sent out a call to its local branches by October 16 to collect a package of documents for candidates who are definitely ready to enter the updated PECs, a source in the party told Kommersant. According to him, TECs will accept these documents from October 12 to November 10. “Local branches are recommended to find people who will take the selection of candidates for the PEC and the collection of documents very seriously, since the party is afraid of finding fault with the documents of representatives of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, as was the case in 2020 during the formation of the TEC,” the source told Kommersant. .

Let us recall that at the end of 2020, the powers of 123 of 128 Moscow TECs expired, and the communists also had a guaranteed quota of one member in each commission. However, the IPCC identified inaccuracies in the documents of some candidates from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and announced additional recruitment for the resulting vacancies. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation submitted corrected documents, but the IPCC stated that additional recruitment was announced not only for them, and did not accept communists in 36 of the 123 TECs. Dmitry Reut then explained that the legal quota of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation was valid only during the initial formation of commissions. The communists failed to challenge this decision in court.

Secretary of the Moscow city committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and deputy of the Moscow City Duma Pavel Tarasov told Kommersant that the party intends to cover almost all the updated PECs with its candidacies. “Usually, we have almost one hundred percent closure of polling stations by voting members of commissions, with the exception of isolated flaws. I think that this time we will achieve a result close to 100%,” noted Mr. Tarasov.

Other opposition parties that have legal privileges are also involved in the selection of candidates. The head of the Moscow branch of the LDPR, Dmitry Koshlakov-Krestovsky, told Kommersant that they also plan to “close” all the updated PECs: “We will conduct training and prepare high-quality commission members who will adequately represent the interests of the party at the polling stations.” The Spravorossians are also hoping for a “full house.” “We will focus on current PEC members. The main selection criteria will be active work in the current period, completion of the necessary training programs organized by the IPCC and the party,” Dmitry Gusev, head of the Moscow branch of the SRZP, told Kommersant. Now, according to him, lists are being formed for administrative districts, the selected candidates will go through a series of party filters and “only the best will be included in the new PECs.” Finally, the leader of the Moscow “New People” Anna Drobot told Kommersant that the party is still forming lists of potential PEC members, and plans to submit documents to the TEC from the beginning of November. “Then it will be clear how complete the coverage will be. The task is to introduce our representatives to all PECs in Moscow. This is an important point, since the commissions will work until 2028,” noted Ms. Drobot. On the other hand, in her opinion, the role of PEC members is now lower than before, because 80% of voters in the capital vote electronically.

This issue is also being dealt with in the Moscow Yabloko, which, although it has a faction in the Moscow City Duma, does not have a guaranteed quota in election commissions. “Of course, we will strive to cover the maximum number of polling stations, but I can’t say yet whether everything will work out,” Maxim Kruglov, the leader of the Yabloko party in the capital’s parliament, admitted to Kommersant. “Although with the introduction of online voting, the topic of monitoring elections at polling stations is losing ground.” its relevance. Nevertheless, we will still use all available opportunities to protect the votes of Muscovites.”

Let us recall that remote electronic voting in Moscow has already become more popular than traditional voting. Thus, in the 2022 municipal elections, 1.7 million voters chose this method of expressing their will against 700 thousand who voted by ballot. And in the 2023 mayoral elections, when DEG became available at polling stations through special terminals, it was already preferred by more than 2.7 million people, or 80% of all those who turned out to vote.

Elena Rozhkova