Ella Pamfilova praised some election critics and scolded others – Kommersant

The pressure of critics, who set Western electoral practices as an example of Russian ones, contributed to the development of the domestic electoral system, said Ella Pamfilova, chairman of the Central Election Commission. She stated this while speaking via video link to the participants of the educational forum of young election organizers in the Lipetsk region.

“I am even grateful to these critics, because for all the time that we have been working with you, these endless nit-picking, pressure, oppression have disciplined us so much that our electoral system has become the most open and transparent in the world,” admitted Ms. Pamfilova. At the same time, she pointed out the need to “break the stereotypes of various kinds of experts” who are trying to “discredit the elections in Russia, impose on us some patterns that everything is fine in the West, but it’s the other way around in our country.”

In addition, the head of the Central Election Commission criticized unnamed politicians who oppose remote electronic voting (DEV): “Those politicians who are trying in a Bolshevik way to ban remote electronic voting do not rely on the opinion of their voters.” Although distrust of the DEG can be shared by those who simply “didn’t understand what was happening,” Ella Pamfilova believes. “We have a very powerful control system,” she assured. At the same time, the chairman of the Central Election Commission agreed that civilian control over the DEG has its own specifics: “Just coming from the street will not understand anything. That is why we attract specialists who understand the essence of blockchain-based remote electronic voting and know how to control it.”

Grigory Leiba