recruitment for public observers announced in Moscow

The Public Election Observation Headquarters in Moscow held its first meeting on Tuesday during the mayoral election campaign. In particular, the headquarters announced a recruitment for public observers and a competition for the best question to be used during testing of remote electronic voting. Muscovites can send their questions until August 17, and the system itself will be tested in the second half of the month. Moscow City Duma deputy from the Communist Party and a member of the headquarters Ekaterina Engalycheva, without waiting for the deadline, suggested asking Muscovites about whether it is worth banning the movement of electric scooters on the sidewalks in the capital. According to the deputy, this problem worries many citizens.

Opening the first meeting of the Public Headquarters for Election Observation in this election campaign, its head Vadim Kovalev recalled that in 2023 this structure will be ten years old. Moscow created such a headquarters for the first of the Russian regions: it appeared in 2013 before the start of the first election campaign won by Sergei Sobyanin, in which Alexei Navalny, among others, took part. Until 2022, the headquarters was almost permanently headed by journalist Alexei Venediktov (included by the Ministry of Justice in the register of foreign agents), and since 2022, his deputy for past campaigns, Vadim Kovalev, has become the head.

At a meeting on August 8, members of the headquarters announced the recruitment of public observers to work at polling stations in the autumn elections of the mayor and municipal deputies in New Moscow. According to Mr. Kovalev, about 10,000 observers will be trained this year. Approximately the same number was in the campaigns of recent years in Moscow, added the head of staff. “We have a large number of people who, year after year, participate with us in this great, important work. And we hope that again many of our colleagues and friends will be with us this year as well,” said Mr. Kovalev.

Also at the first meeting, the members of the headquarters approved the Observer’s Code, which contains the rules of conduct and work of public controllers. This four-page document sets out the basic principles of the work of observers at the polling stations, their rights and obligations, as well as responsibilities. For example, observance of the rule of law, protection of electoral rights and freedoms, respect and observance of the interests of all participants in the electoral process, as well as competence and responsibility to voters are named among the main principles of the activity of observers. The code also emphasizes that when working at polling stations, observers must maintain “tact and courtesy”, observe “political neutrality regardless of political views” and “avoid anything that could compromise the authority of the observer, question his honesty and impartiality.”

According to the code, a public observer in Moscow is obliged to promptly inform the headquarters about any events at the polling station that require verification, not to disseminate information about the work of the polling station and the voting process that is not confirmed by the headquarters, and also to wear a special vest and a badge with a name, surname and his status . The document also states that every observer who is appointed by the Public Chamber of Moscow is required to take a training course. Vadim Kovalev specified that the training of observers will begin in the coming days and will last approximately two weeks.

In addition, at the first meeting of the Public Headquarters, Mr. Kovalev announced the testing of the online voting system scheduled for the second half of August, which is held every year before the elections, and announced a competition for the best question to conduct this test. “Today we turned to representatives of political parties, members of the Public Chamber, and, taking this opportunity, to all Muscovites: until August 17, we are waiting for a proposal on an issue that we could put to a test vote,” said the head of the capital’s headquarters. The author of the most interesting question will be marked by the Public Chamber.

However, Ekaterina Engalycheva, a member of the headquarters and a deputy of the Moscow City Duma from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, did not wait for the specified period and immediately proposed that the question of whether to ban electric scooters on sidewalks in Moscow should be submitted for a test vote. According to Ms. Engalycheva, this problem worries many Muscovites. Recall that last year, during the testing of remote electronic voting before the elections of municipal deputies, Muscovites answered the question: what improvements will help make your area more comfortable? It was accompanied by 15 answer options, from which five could be selected. Then the townspeople most willingly voted for the improvement and improvement of lighting in the parks. The results of the survey, distributed by district, were planned to be transferred to the Moscow government for consideration in future work.

Elena Rozhkova