Russian elections return to basics

A scientific and practical conference dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the electoral system of the Russian Federation was held in St. Petersburg on Thursday. The anniversary event with the participation of the Chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Russia Ella Pamfilova was held under the slogans of fighting foreign influence and defending sovereignty. At the conference, President Vladimir Putin was called “a like-minded person of Peter I,” and the upcoming presidential elections in 2024 were called “the most important event in the entire modern history of Russia.”

The symbolism of the “celebration of the 30th anniversary of the new electoral system” in the Tauride Palace was persistently reminded to its participants by the Governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Beglov, the head of the Leningrad Region Alexander Drozdenko and the Chairman of the Central Election Commission Ella Pamfilova. It was here that the first meeting of the State Duma took place in 1906 and “the traditions of the legitimacy of the electoral process were laid, which is what distinguishes Russia now,” they explained.

Arriving guests were greeted by an exhibition about the history of the electoral system of Russia and St. Petersburg, where one could see children’s drawings with a call to go to the polls (among which, for some reason, there were images of churches with similar inscriptions) and ballot boxes for every taste: from ordinary boxes from the 1990s to modern complexes for processing ballot papers (KOIP). Mrs. Pamfilova quickly ran around the exposition, accompanied by two governors, as well as the chairmen of the electoral commissions of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region, Maxim Meiksin and Mikhail Lebedinsky. During the “race,” the head of the Central Election Commission demonstrated how the KOIB works by filling out and submitting a ballot for voting for the best attraction of the “Silver Necklace of Russia” tourist route. And at the ballot box exhibition, she especially appreciated a metal box from the 1970 elections: “The slot is so large that you can’t expand it.”

The plenary session of the conference was joined by Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Northwestern Federal District Alexander Gutsan, head of the secretariat of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly Dmitry Kobitsky and head of the Central Election Commission of Belarus Igor Karpenko. “Remote electronic voting (DEG) takes Russia to a fundamentally different technological level. The basic basis of the electoral system remains unchanged – independence from legislators, transparency, publicity. The Russian electoral system is considered one of the most progressive and perfect in the world,” said Mr. Gutsan. Alexander Beglov agreed with this assessment, emphasizing that elections in Russia protect its sovereignty.

“320 years ago, when our city was created, there was no electoral system. Thanks to the strong will of Peter I, we created modern Russia. And today our president, as a like-minded person of Peter, defends the same interests. Russia’s enemies tried to destroy our country through the electoral process, so the elections should be even more open,” Mr. Beglov concluded his speech somewhat paradoxically.

Alexander Drozdenko also spoke about the success of implementing DEG, and Dmitry Kobitsky simply wished the conference participants a “productive exchange of views and a good mood.”

The praise of the Russian electoral system was continued by the “friendly guest” (as Smolny officials called him on the sidelines of the Tauride Palace) Igor Karpenko. “No country can boast as much technology as Russia. And all this is aimed at protecting the sovereignty of Russia. After all, modern state building is based on traditional values. Belarus and Russia are connected at the genetic level. And hybrid influence cannot stop us!” – he assured the crowd.

Ella Pamfilova began her speech at the plenary session by declaring a minute of silence in memory of those killed in the Northern Military District zone (the guests were silent to the song “You Can’t Be Broken” by Sergei Galanin). “It is impossible to tear modern history away from its roots. Even after a thousand years. Russia has always needed a strong leader: be it a tsar, a prince or an emperor,” declared the head of the Central Election Commission. After that, she moved on to debunking “myths propagated by the West.” “We have officials and civil servants (in election commissions.— “Kommersant”) less than 6%. In Europe, it is often representatives of the executive branch who count the votes. We have a serious system of observers. We ensure maximum transparency, openness and reliability of the results,” Ms. Pamfilova reported. She also mentioned the “incredible complexity” of DEG, which was launched on a massive scale this year, and the “incredible workload” during the pandemic and after the start of the SVO: “I made a little mistake, I messed up, and that’s it.” The speech of the Chairman of the Central Election Commission continued with a reminder of the provocations regarding the electoral system of the Russian Federation, and ended with an expression of confidence that the upcoming presidential elections in 2024 will become “the most important event in the entire modern history of Russia.”

After the plenary session, the participants dispersed to three round tables, where with the participation of experts, representatives of the government of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region and members of regional election commissions, in particular, the issues of the DEG and election observation were discussed. During the discussion on the problems of digitalization of the electoral system, it was especially noted that the DEG is not at all a competitor to “classical elections.” And at the round table on control over the election campaign, observers were asked to invite members of election commissions to their training sessions, so that in the end “incidents” and “conflicts” would not arise.

Polina Puchkova, St. Petersburg