Electoral commissions classified as “secret” – Newspaper Kommersant No. 36 (7481) dated 03/02/2023

The Central Election Commission (CEC) on Wednesday proposed candidates for the positions of their chairmen to the election commissions of four new regions of Russia. Officially, they will be elected at the first meetings of the commissions, but in fact, the formation of election commissions, which in September 2023 will have to hold the first elections in accordance with Russian law, has already been completed. At the same time, if in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics the names and subjects of nomination of all members of the commissions are made public, then in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, full information is not disclosed for security reasons.

At a meeting on March 1, the CEC expectedly recommended their current chairmen, who worked during the referendums on joining Russia last fall, to the posts of chairmen of the first compositions of electoral commissions of the new constituent entities of the Russian Federation. In the DPR, it was proposed to elect Vladimir Vysotsky as the head of the election commission, in the LPR – Elena Kravchenko, in the Zaporozhye region – Galina Katyushchenko, and in the Kherson region – Marina Zakharova. The election commissions will make final decisions on personnel issues at the first meetings by secret ballot.

The first compositions of the four regional commissions were fully formed in February. But the procedures for their formation were different: if in the DPR and LPR, where there are parliaments, the deputies filled their quota themselves, then in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, where there are no legislative bodies yet, this function was performed by the CEC of the Russian Federation.

The commissions of the DPR and LPR, the formation of which was completed on February 28, consist of 12 voting members: they were appointed in equal shares by acting governors and people’s councils on the proposals of parties and public associations.

Artem Fomin from United Russia, Yevgeny Aprelsky from the Liberal Democratic Party, Oleg Balykin from the Russian Party of Pensioners, Ivan Plakhotnikov from the Federation of Trade Unions of the DPR and Rodion Stepanov from the Trade Union of Coal Industry Workers of the DPR were included in the DPR election committee according to the quota of the acting head of the republic Denis Pushilin. On the recommendation of the Central Executive Committee, Mr. Pushilin appointed Vladimir Vysotsky to the commission. According to the quota of the People’s Council of the DPR, Svetlana Astakhova (KPRF), Sergey Kravets (“A Just Russia – For Truth”), Evgeny Filippovsky (“New People”) and Anna Naidenko, recommended by the CEC, were delegated to the election commission. Two more members were proposed by public organizations: Elena Radomskaya was nominated by the Donetsk Republic movement, Vadim Prudnikov by the Free Donbass movement.

In the LPR, according to the quota of the acting head of the republic, Leonid Pasechnik, the commission included Elena Kravchenko, proposed by the CEC, Vladimir Babenko (KPRF), Sergey Belov (“Green Alternative”), Natalia Kulichenko (“Fair Russia – For Truth”), Oksana Nikityuk (“Green” ) and Maxim Prikhodko (“Motherland”). The People’s Council of the LPR appointed Ekaterina Tereshchenko from United Russia, Alexei Cherkasov from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Denis Lazarev from the Liberal Democratic Party, Tatyana Prikhodko from the New People, Elena Sakura from the Russian Party of Pensioners and Marianna Skornyakova from the Central Election Commission to the first composition of the electoral committee.

In Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, the election commissions consist of ten members and were formed a little earlier. Unlike the DPR and LPR, the names of the members of these commissions are not disclosed for security reasons. Only the names of the electoral committee members who were delegated by the CEC (two people per commission) were made public, and in the case of the rest, only the subject of their nomination. So, in the Zaporozhye region, in addition to the acting chairman Galina Katyushchenko and the secretary of the commission Elena Sivenkova, nominated by the CEC, the first composition of the electoral committee included representatives of United Russia, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Just Russia – For the Truth, the Liberal Democratic Party, New People, the Russian Party of Pensioners, ” Green Alternative” and public organization “We are together”. The Kherson commission, on the recommendation of the CEC, included its current head Marina Zakharova and a member of the Crimean electoral committee Sergey Vysotin. The remaining eight members were nominated by five parliamentary parties, as well as the Party of Pensioners, Rodina and the Public Council of the Kherson region.

In September, these compositions of election commissions will have to organize elections to the legislative bodies of the regions for the first time in accordance with Russian legislation. True, martial law is now in effect in all four new regions, during which, according to the law, elections cannot be held. However, the Russian authorities have repeatedly stated that the September elections in these territories should go according to plan.

Elena Rozhkova