The Central Election Commission congratulated the winners of the Sofium Olympiad on suffrage for high school students

The Central Election Commission (CEC) on Wednesday honored the winners of the Sofium Olympiad on suffrage for high school students. 88 schoolchildren took part in the final stage, and 73 received awards (winner and runners-up of the first and second degrees). During the event, it became clear that at least some of the young people who came to the CEC were already well known in the regional commissions. Representatives of election commissions hope that the project will allow them to identify and prepare strong replacements.

The Sofium Olympiad among 10th and 11th grade students was held in two stages. The regional one covered over 12 thousand schoolchildren. To select the best of them, various thematic case problems were also used. For example, subjects were asked to answer what to do with voter Ivanov, who came to the polling station on the eve of his 18th birthday (an incident presented by the “three-day” voting format), to deal with citizen Molodozhenov, who was trying to add his wife’s new name to the electoral lists, or to decide what to do with the forgetful PEC member Arithmetikov, who lost two ballots during home voting. At the same time, participants were asked to answer more systemic questions in the field of election legislation.

336 schoolchildren were selected for the federal stage, and 88 people reached the finals in the format of the intellectual game “Sofium”. There, the participants again faced situational tasks, and later answered questions from the jury. 73 participants (36 from 10th and 37 from 11th grades) from more than 25 constituent entities of the Russian Federation became winners and prize-winners: tenth-graders received free trips to Artek, graduates received additional points for admission to Moscow State Law Academy named after. Kutafina.

The diplomas were presented at the ceremony by the deputy chairman of the Central Election Commission, Nikolai Bulaev. “I think that next year we will make everything even brighter and more interesting, and then the winners and participants will feel that they have attended an important event, which, perhaps, will determine the whole life for someone,” announced Mr. Bulaev with the full support of his colleagues from the Central Election Commission and representatives of regional commissions who joined the event online. “From the way they wrote to me, I saw the direct involvement of the election commissions,” admitted the deputy head of the Central Election Commission. “I won’t say that they lobbied, but they asked: how are my people doing?”

Further discussion revealed specific connections between representatives of the commissions and their protégés. “So, who is your chairman? Do you know each other? – Nikolai Bulaev asked, for example, a graduate student from Perm. “Vagin Igor Sergeevich!” — the girl answered calmly. “Oh, Igor Sergeevich, they know you!” — The deputy chairman of the Central Election Commission nodded his head in satisfaction towards the screen. And the Magadan winner himself noted from the podium to his patron: “I want to thank Nikolai Nikolaevich Zhukov!” “Oh, we have him right there (on the screen.— “Kommersant”)… I’ve lost some weight,” Mr. Bulaev smiled. “You know, I lost much more weight at this Olympics than during the presidential elections: I was very worried,” admitted Mr. Zhukov (obviously, he was not worried in vain: the Magadan team, having made their debut in the final stage, took awards among both the 10th and 11th x classes). “It’s in vain that you speak out so politically…Have you ever spoken on the platform of the Central Election Commission?” – Nikolai Bulaev egged on his colleague. “Never! But look at what kind of shift we have growing, with what experience they will have!” – Nikolai Zhukov answered without a shadow of envy.

From the same podium Veronika Truzhenikova from Perm spoke with gratitude to the teachers. “It is important to instill a love for suffrage, for any legislation,” she admonished. “You know, your call to start the morning and end the evening by reading laws on voting rights has the right to life. It has?” – Mr. Bulaev reasoned out loud. “No! No!” – the subordinates from the audience begged. “Yes, it does,” the deputy chairman of the commission insisted.

The Central Election Commission itself received its share of gratitude. “We were glad to see in person how the most important tasks of elections and referendums were being solved,” Stanislav Naturalov, an Olympiad participant from Tatarstan, thanked the host party. “Thank you very much, the food here is very good, really great, it’s worth visiting the Central Election Commission just for this,” admitted Magadan resident Vitaly Murashkin. “We’re waiting at home,” the head of the Magadan Regional Election Commission reminded him from the screen. “Yes… In general, thank you very much, and come to us, in Magadan,” the schoolboy called on the election commission officials at parting. Members of the Central Executive Committee refrained from quoting Soviet film classics in response.

Grigory Leiba