The Central Election Commission has protected polling stations from dangerous attention – Kommersant
The Central Election Commission (CEC) has authorized the commissions of eight border regions to impose a ban on photography and video filming at and near polling stations for security reasons. This right is granted to them by a CEC resolution adopted at a meeting on September 2.
Regional election commissions will be able to make such decisions based on the situation in a specific territory and after consultation with the operational headquarters, said Deputy Chairman of the Central Election Commission Nikolai Bulaev. He expressed confidence that such decisions will be balanced and will be correctly understood. The ban will not apply to representatives of the media accredited for the elections, the Central Election Commission clarified.
The commission also restricted access to video surveillance materials at the by-elections to the State Duma in the Unechsky and Yuzhny single-mandate constituencies (Bryansk and Rostov regions, respectively): they will be available only to the Central Election Commission, the commissions organizing the elections, and public observation centers. This is being done to prevent unauthorized access to the broadcast of images from the polling stations, since information about the presence of people at polling stations can become a tip-off for the enemy, explained CEC member Alexander Kurdyumov, presenting the draft resolution. Regional commissions are recommended to take into account the features established by the CEC for federal-level campaigns during their elections.
