Controllers will take in numbers – Newspaper Kommersant No. 149 (7350) of 08/17/2022
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The Public Chamber of the Russian Federation on Tuesday announced the recruitment of observers for the upcoming single voting day in September. Party members predict a general increase in their presence at the polling stations in connection with the abolition of the institution of members of election commissions with the right to consultative vote (PSG) in lower-level commissions. This status had a number of undeniable advantages, but now the gap will have to be closed at the expense of ordinary observers, the campaigners regret.
The beginning of the recruitment of observers for the September regional and municipal elections was announced on August 16 by the chairman of the coordinating council under the OP for public control over voting Maxim Grigoriev. Public organizations, professional observation associations and individuals are invited to take part in the observation. Documents can be sent to both federal and regional OPs. According to Mr. Grigoriev, the RF OP sent to the regions a regulation on the procedure for appointing observers and other manuals that can be used locally as basic ones, and, if desired, supplemented, taking into account local specifics. OP regions are recommended to conclude agreements with parties and public organizations.
Maxim Grigoriev also noted that an innovation in 2022 will be the ability to send observers from the OP not only to precinct, but also to territorial and district election commissions. He recalled that the distribution of people by polling stations will be handled by the OPs of the regions, so those wishing to get into certain PECs should hurry up with submitting applications. The main priority of the public chambers is to “close” the maximum number of polling stations, Mr. Grigoriev emphasized. Recall that each PO can appoint up to three observers to each precinct commission.
Recall that on September 9–11, direct elections will be held for heads of 14 regions, deputies of six legislative assemblies of constituent entities of the Russian Federation and 12 representative bodies of regional capitals, as well as elections to other local governments – a total of about 4,700 election campaigns.
The parties are also preparing for observation. “It is with the help of the monitoring procedure that we achieve our main goal – the recognition by society of the result as legitimate,” emphasizes Sergei Perminov, deputy secretary of the United Russia General Council. He predicts an increase in the number of observers at polling stations. “The coverage of campaigns this year is less than in the federal Duma cycle-2021, so we have a wider pool of personnel,” notes United Russia. Observers go through special seminars in advance, and the party has advanced digital developments at its disposal, Mr. Perminov adds: “Our Observer module is installed on gadgets, and our digital ecosystem receives messages about all violations, openings and closures of sites instantly.”
First Deputy Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, State Duma deputy Yuri Afonin states that the abolition of the institution of members of election commissions with the PSG at the territorial and precinct levels was a serious blow to the democratic nature of elections and observation. “The members of the commissions with the PSG had a number of undeniable advantages compared to the institution of observers,” recalls the communist. when the local administration put pressure on them.” Now the Communist Party will have to focus on observers and voting members of commissions. As a result, the number of observers will increase noticeably, but at the expense of those people who were planned to be sent to the commissions with the PSG, Mr. Afonin says. “Of course, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation puts a spoke in the wheel in the first place, but we will protect the results as much as possible through the maximum use of the quota of observers, education and training that is already underway,” the communist promises. According to him, the Communist Party does not intend to enter into agreements with the OP, because local chambers “are seriously dependent on regional and local authorities.”
They do not plan to cooperate with the OP as part of the appointment and training of observers and in the Just Russia – For Truth party, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, head of the Just Observer party project, told Kommersant. According to her, the parties have retained the ability to appoint them on their own, and this is quite enough for the Right Russians.
The head of the central apparatus of the LDPR, State Duma deputy Alexei Didenko told Kommersant that the party’s strategy in matters of observation remains the same: “We used to recruit observers and members of commissions from the PSG to the maximum for all three, two or one The decision was made by the local electoral committee. Now we will manage only by the forces of observers, but the approach remains unchanged – this is the principle of total observation. The question of whether the LDPR will conclude agreements with the OP has not yet been considered by the party’s supreme council, the deputy added.
Yabloko will announce the number of its observers a week before the election, but it is already clear that this year there will be “more than usual,” Alexander Yefimov, a member of the party’s federal bureau, told Kommersant: “People themselves call and ask if it is possible to work observer. In the current political situation in the country, citizens of democratic views have very few ways to express their position and come to the polls – this is significant for them today.” Mr. Efimov assured that, despite the obstacles in organizing the observation, the Yabloko people would “fight for fair elections.” Among such obstacles, he named some innovations in the work of election commissions in the field – for example, a unified electronic voter register and updated workstations for members of election commissions. “Now the observer cannot pick up the voter book and analyze the entire array of data that was previously available to him,” the party member explained. “We are now trying to understand the new rules of the game, we are analyzing them.”
The abolition of members of the commissions from the PSG is the main novelty of the upcoming elections, states Grigory Melkonyants, co-chairman of the Golos movement (included in the register of foreign agents by the Ministry of Justice). Until now, according to him, candidates and parties, in the face of a shortage of people, have opted for this status, since it gave them more powers and access to documents. So formally the number of observers in these elections will even grow, but to the detriment of the quality of work, the expert suggests. In addition, in his opinion, the question of the motivation of observers is also acute: usually critical citizens went to the polling stations, but now many have a rather pessimistic mood. Nevertheless, Golos will offer activists not to refuse to participate in the observation and to use all available statuses, Mr. Melkonyants emphasizes.
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