Explanations are expected from the CEC on who and how will be able to observe the elections in the extraterritorial precincts

The Public Chamber and the parties are waiting for clarifications from the Central Election Commission on who and how can observe the elections in the extraterritorial precincts. The innovation, which will allow the regions to create polling stations outside the boundaries of their constituencies, was introduced primarily in order to ensure voting in the new subjects of the Russian Federation. But suddenly it turned out that it does not fit well with the ban on the so-called electoral tourism: we are talking about a norm that allows only those citizens who are voters in these elections to become observers.

The Civic Chamber (OP) of the Russian Federation will send a letter to the Central Election Commission (CEC) with a request to clarify the mechanisms for organizing the work of extraterritorial polling stations and the possibilities of public observation on them. This proposal was made on Friday by Alena Bulgakova, Director of the Association “Independent Public Monitoring”, at the coordinating council of the OP on public control over voting. The procedure for media accreditation at such polling stations, according to observers, also needs to be clarified.

The issue was raised by Alexander Tochenov, co-chairman of the Council for Public Control of the Voting, Executive Secretary of the Presidential Human Rights Council. He recalled that under the current legislation, both the media and observers are territorially tied to the place of their registration: only a resident of the region can be an observer in his subject of the Russian Federation. It is also unclear how a similar issue with media accreditation will be settled. The CEC needs clarification on this matter and, possibly, even legal documents, Mr. Tochenov insists. A member of the OP, Maxim Grigoriev, proposed holding an extended workshop to develop proposals for the CEC on such sites.

Recall that the rule on extraterritorial polling stations appeared in the legislation in May 2023: it allows regions to create polling stations outside the boundaries of their constituencies. This was conceived with an eye to the first Russian elections in the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, but as a result, other regions also got this opportunity. After all, extraterritorial sites will be created not only for participants in the special operation, this, in particular, is important for a large number of shift workers, Alexander Tochenov explains. Earlier it was reported that the new regions plan to create 328 sites in 81 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. According to Kommersant, the intention to create such sections was expressed, for example, in the Omsk, Novosibirsk and Voronezh regions, Primorye and Yakutia. According to the procedure established by the CEC, the decision to create an extraterritorial section must be made no later than a month (in exceptional cases – three days), and the composition of commissions must be formed no later than 15 days (in exceptional cases – one day) before the first voting day.

Volodymyr Rogov, a member of the OP from the Zaporozhye region, said that there are definitely 496,000 voters in his region now, and another 46,000 are located “in greater Russia” and, as expected, will vote from there. According to him, the region is ready for the elections, despite everyday difficulties (for example, not everywhere there is electricity). But there are some nuances: for example, for hard-to-reach areas (these are mainly those located along the line of contact and where people spend most of their time in basements, the public figure specified), early voting is provided, as well as bypassing apartments.

The presence of extraterritorial sites can complicate the process of monitoring the elections, agrees the first deputy chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party Yuri Afonin. But he considers the decision to create them logical: “You can’t take away people’s constitutional right to vote. And on a national scale, this is not such a large number of sites. According to the communist, the Communist Party will wait for the CEC to explain how commissions will be formed at such polling stations and observers will be allowed. Also, in the families of the evacuated residents of the new regions, there are supporters of the Communist Party who will help monitor the extraterritorial areas, Mr. Afonin hopes. “But even this case underscores that the rules against observing elections in a region outside your own region actually violate the rights of citizens,” he says.

Sergei Perminov, deputy secretary of the United Russia General Council, sees no problems with monitoring at such polling stations: “As far as I know, the monitoring algorithm will be approved by the CEC in the near future and will be thought out so that each party that nominates its candidates in new regions has its own observers “. According to United Russia, the issue of security will be put at the forefront in the elections in these regions. In early August, the party will launch special training seminars to train observers, where, among other things, voting issues in new regions will be discussed, adds Mr. Perminov.

Anastasia Kornya, Andrey Vinokurov