Khakassia was given a DEG for reflection – Picture of the Day – Kommersant

The Election Commission of Khakassia is conducting an online survey of residents on the advisability of using remote electronic voting (DEG). In September, elections will be held in the republic for the head of the region (this post is now held by the communist Valentin Konovalov) and deputies of the Supreme Council. The results of the survey will be advisory in nature. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation traditionally opposes the use of the DEG, considering this procedure non-transparent and distorting the voting results.

On January 23, the Electoral Committee of Khakassia will sum up the results of a survey of citizens announced at the end of last year on the possibility of using the DEG in the 2023 elections. The announcement of the survey is published on the commission’s website, and all residents of the republic over 18 years of age are invited to participate in it. They will have to answer six questions posted on the Gosuslugi portal, including “Do you trust the DEG?” if it will be applied in the elections to the state authorities of Khakassia in 2023?

In September, the head of the republic and deputies of the supreme council will be elected in Khakassia. In 2018, the candidate from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Valentin Konovalov won the election of the head of the region. There are five factions in the parliament, which consists of 50 deputies: United Russia (ER, 20 seats), Communist Party of the Russian Federation (13), LDPR (5), Just Russia – For Truth (3), Communists of Russia (2 ).

The press service of the Republican Electoral Commission told Kommersant that the poll was initiated by the commission itself. As its chairman Alexander Chumanin explained to Kommersant, the election commission wants to find out whether “our voters are ready for remote voting.” The results of the survey will be advisory in nature. “In accordance with the law, the decision on the use of the DEG is made by the commission organizing the elections, in agreement with the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation,” recalled Mr. Chumanin. He also added that when discussing the idea of ​​polling, none of the members of the election commission had any objections. According to the website of the commission, seven parties are represented in it: in addition to the five parliamentary ones, these are the For Justice! and Communists of Russia.

In EP, the idea of ​​using DEG was supported. “In Russia, the procedure of electronic voting is already beginning to be widely used. It is possible that after some time it will be applied in federal elections. And EP already has experience of party preliminary electronic voting. And this gives the party additional opportunities to mobilize its supporters. Finally, e-voting is simply convenient for the average voter. I think that the future belongs to him, ”Viktor Lebedev, the first deputy head of the executive committee of the Khakass branch of the EP, commented to Kommersant on the initiative of the electoral committee.

The Communist Party of the Russian Federation opposes the use of the DEG, Ludmila Kaufman, secretary of the regional branch for organizational and party work, deputy of the republican parliament, told Kommersant. “Everyone perfectly understands how they vote (at the DEG.— “b”), more likely to have some kind of “leftist” votes,” she explained. According to Mrs. Kaufman, in the future this position of the Khakass communists will be officially formulated and announced. At the same time, she assured that the use of administrative resources in the interests of the Communist Party in Khakassia is excluded.

As Kommersant previously reported, the use of the DEG in the 2023 gubernatorial elections was recently opposed by the communists of the Altai Territory. They insist on holding a “popular poll” on this matter. Presumably, the issue of a plebiscite may be submitted to the session of the regional legislature on January 26. The Altai Territory is led by United Russia Viktor Tomenko, who, like Valentin Konovalov, was elected in 2018.

Krasnoyarsk political analyst Alexander Chernyavsky believes that the result of using the DEG depends on how the parties will present this format to their “nuclear” electorate. “If the United Russia and some other parties urge their voters to use the DEG, then the Communist Party, in my opinion, is making a fundamental mistake by agitating against electronic voting. Thus, they cut off a large part of the people who are loyal to leftist ideas, but for various reasons do not come to the polling stations, ”explains the expert. In his opinion, supporters of former President Donald Trump are making the same mistake in the United States, sowing doubts in the ranks of the Republicans about the mail-in voting, instead of using this format to solve their political problems.

Valery Lavsky, Novosibirsk