Elections in the regions will be held without unnecessary restrictions

Over the past day, 25,815 new cases of coronavirus have been detected in Russia, a record since March this year. The day before, the head of the Central Election Commission (CEC), Ella Pamfilova, called on the regions to analyze the need to introduce anti-COVID measures during elections. At the same time, she noted that now the disease “occurs in a milder form” and “there is no such level of threat as it was last year.” At the same time, the mask regime returns to the CEC itself.

Pamfilova stressed that changing the voting format, i.e. the number of days for holding elections, is excluded, since, in accordance with the law, the decision on the duration of voting is made within 10 days from the moment the elections are called and cannot be changed later. In 12 subjects of the Federation, elections at the regional level will be held for three days, in three – two days, in three more – one. Municipal elections in Moscow will be held in three days, and in St. Petersburg – in one.

Most of the regions have not yet made decisions on changing the rules for organizing elections. Rostislav Radzivil, head of the regional election commission of the Tomsk region, told reporters that the commission is closely monitoring the situation with the incidence, but does not plan to introduce a mask regime at polling stations. An interlocutor of Vedomosti in the regional government said that the region would not introduce official restrictions in order “not to scare voters from the polling stations.”

The same position is held in the Sakhalin and Vladimir regions. “We don’t have sharp growth [заболеваемости], the situation is calm, so I hope we can manage,” says the source in the electoral committee of the Vladimir region. They do not want to introduce restrictions in North Ossetia. “We want to hold the elections in a calm atmosphere,” said a source in the regional administration. They have not yet decided on a decision and are monitoring the situation in the Yaroslavl region and Karelia, interlocutors in regional administrations say.

Elena Klimenko, chairperson of the election commission of the Sverdlovsk region, said that the mask regime does not work in the region, but those who will work at polling stations will be provided with masks. Voters are provided with hand sanitizer, and individual pens are offered for filling out ballots. The website of the election committee of Mari El reports that the commission, together with Rospotrebnadzor, approved recommendations for the elections: they are aimed at ensuring the sanitary safety of members of election commissions of all levels, other election participants and voters. The recommendations themselves have not been published.

Federal Rospotrebnadzor has not yet prepared recommendations on election precautions, a representative of the department told Vedomosti, but did not rule out that they could be developed.

In case the incidence of covid rises sharply, the CEC has already worked out the experience of voting on the Constitution, as well as holding elections in a pandemic, says political scientist Alexander Asafov. “Emergency measures, apparently, are unlikely to be needed,” the expert says. This will dry out the turnout more, he notes.

The authorities would be comfortable not to impose restrictions on the election period, political scientist Mikhail Vinogradov is sure. “On the other hand, everything will depend on the global trend: if restrictions are returned around the world and the incidence will skyrocket, it will be difficult to ignore,” he explained.