Public observers lack scope

The Independent Public Monitoring Association (NOM) has prepared a number of proposals to expand the capacity of public election observers. These ideas are contained in the report, which was presented on Monday by the head of the NOM, Alexander Brod, at a conference in the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation. In particular, it is proposed to involve public observers at all stages of the election campaign, and not just on voting days. This can be done, for example, by allowing them to attend meetings of election commissions.

The conference at the Civic Chamber (PC) of the Russian Federation was timed to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the establishment of the institute for public observation of elections in Russia. In 2017, a rule was introduced into the law on presidential elections in the Russian Federation on the admission of representatives of public organizations to observation at polling stations, but with the obligatory condition that they receive referrals through the OPs of the regions. After the 2018 presidential campaign, this rule has been extended to all levels of elections.

During the conference, the chairman of the NOM Alexander Brod (the association was created in 2019 on the basis of the RF OP) presented a regular report with proposals for improving the electoral legislation. According to him, over the five years of active work, the NOM has become convinced of the need to expand the functionality of public control in elections: “This is not only the process of voting and summing up the results, but there are other equally important stages of the electoral process.” We are talking about preparations for the elections, and about the nomination and registration of candidates, and about the period of campaigning, Mr. Brod explained: “Everywhere there are pitfalls. Everywhere, unfortunately, some political forces, unscrupulous election participants use these stages for political speculation, not always admitting their own shortcomings and mistakes.

According to the public activist, there are mistakes on the part of the organizers of the elections, therefore, according to the NOM, public control should be extended to all stages of the electoral process. This can be implemented, in particular, through the participation of public experts in meetings of election commissions, Alexander Brod continued. He recalled that in some regions there is already experience when, in order to prevent “manipulations and political games”, public activists were invited to meetings of election commissions and saw the whole process “with their own eyes”.

Recall that in March 2022, the State Duma liquidated the institution of members of precinct and territorial commissions with the right to consultative vote, who were often delegated by parties and candidates to perform the functions of observers. At the same time, election participants have the opportunity to send observers to territorial and district election commissions, but only for the voting period.

In addition, the NOM proposes to legitimize the activities of “mobile groups” consisting of public observers, which move around polling stations on voting days to check incoming reports of violations and other problems. As noted in the NOM report, this practice has become widespread since 2018. It is recommended that all regional public election observation headquarters have these groups, but the members of these groups do not have official observer status. After all, the electoral legislation requires that each observer be attached to one specific polling station, and parties, candidates or OPs must send lists of their observers to territorial election commissions (TECs) three days before the first voting day.

During his speech, Alexander Brod also recalled that President Vladimir Putin, following a December meeting with the Human Rights Council, instructed his administration, together with the Central Election Commission and the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, “to consider the issue of improving the mechanisms of public control in the electoral process.” A report on this issue must be submitted to the President by July 1, 2023. According to a Kommersant source close to the presidential administration, all the initiatives listed in the NOM report to improve the legislative regulation of public surveillance may soon be submitted to the State Duma. True, Pavel Krasheninnikov, chairman of the Duma committee on state building, and Dmitry Vyatkin, head of the United Russia expert council on legislative activity, told Kommersant that they had not heard about the preparation of such legislative initiatives.

The head of the public headquarters for election observation in Moscow, Vadim Kovalev, told Kommersant that his colleagues have developed normal working relations with all participants in the electoral process, so all members of the headquarters receive official observer status from the Moscow City Election Commission: “This document, as well as a certain authority of our the public headquarters was sufficient for unhindered access of our mobile groups to both PECs and TECs.”

The co-chairman of the Golos movement (included by the Ministry of Justice in the register of foreign agents) Grigory Melkonyants believes that if some statuses are introduced for mobile groups, then not only for public headquarters under the OP, but also for parties and candidates. “Then it will be a balanced decision. Otherwise, it will give rise to new conflicts due to the violation of the principle of equality: some observers will have more rights than others,” the expert notes. In his opinion, in order to ensure the normal regulation of surveillance, it is necessary “not to reinvent the wheel and constantly patch up the law, but to return to the legislative norms of surveillance, which, paradoxically as it sounds, were in effect under Vladimir Churov (head of the CEC in 2007–2016.— “b”)”.

Elena Rozhkova, Ksenia Veretennikova