The Central Election Commission held an educational marathon about the history of elections in Russia

On Friday, September 22, the Central Election Commission (CEC) and the Knowledge Society held a joint educational marathon, which consisted of a series of lectures and short films about different periods in the history of Russian elections. Students were shown films about the work of the Novgorod Council, about the Zemsky Sobor, about the State Duma of the imperial period, about the electoral process in the USSR. The chairman of the Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova, took on the topic of the current state of Russian elections. The CEC evaluates its work by increasing confidence in the elections, she noted. There really is an increase, confirmed VTsIOM representative Mikhail Mamonov, citing an August survey.

The joint marathon of the Central Election Commission and the Knowledge Society was held as part of the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Russian electoral system (September 1993 was taken as the starting point). Chairman of the Central Election Commission Ella Pamfilova gave a lecture on its modern structure. Today, the Russian electoral system employs about a million commission members, who represent a cross-section of society, she began her speech. “And I’m sure that even you know someone,” she addressed the young listeners. “A neighbor, a friend, a fellow student.” But such people turned out to be even closer: among the audience in the hall were two people who had already worked as members of precinct election commissions.

The systems of election commissions operate on the principle of cross-control, Ms. Pamfilova continued. This means that the commissions include representatives of parties who guard their interests, and representatives of public organizations. According to Ella Pamfilova, only 6% of the commissions remain civil servants, unlike some Western countries where officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs are involved in organizing elections.

In general, control for today’s electoral system is of fundamental importance, since 12 years ago the level of trust in it decreased, Ella Pamfilova admitted: “They went to the square and protested. Well, they gave me a reason.” We are talking about protests in 2011 under the slogan “For fair elections,” which began immediately after the votes were counted in the State Duma elections and became unprecedented in scale and duration for modern Russia. Therefore, after these events, the Central Election Commission was faced with the task of “cleansing the system of various types of abuses so that it would inspire confidence,” Ella Pamfilova told the audience.

For these purposes, after the “difficult” elections to the State Duma 2016, an institute of public observation was created, the chairman of the Central Election Commission continued the lecture, and did not miss the chance to once again show the advantage of the Russian electoral system over Western democracies. She asked the audience a question – whether, in their opinion, there is election observation in the United States – but immediately answered it herself that such an institution exists only in eight states out of fifty. “Our control system makes our system as open and transparent as possible, unprecedentedly, there are no analogues in the world, no matter what anyone says,” Ella Pamfilova emphasized. The Central Election Commission considers the main criterion of its work to be the growth of voter confidence, and it has been there in recent years.

In support of this thesis, the next speaker of the educational marathon, Director of the Department of Political Research at VTsIOM, Mikhail Mamonov, presented the results of a poll on Russians’ trust in the elections, conducted in August. Thus, according to the study, 63% of Russians say that they go to elections and take part in them, if such an opportunity exists. “We can say that today participation in elections is a socially approved action. This indicator has been stable over recent years… That is, this is a norm that is considered correct, which is supported, which is perceived as necessary,” noted Mr. Mamonov. He explained that 63% is the total potential turnout for elections in Russia, and it changes depending on their level. That is, turnout at local level voting is traditionally lower, and the highest is usually at federal campaigns, he added.

“The moment of the electoral process, the moment of the state process is the image of elections. If a positive image is formed in the elections, then the turnout is higher, the attitude is higher, and, accordingly, the legitimacy of the political system is higher,” the sociologist noted. According to him, there are four trends that shape attitudes towards elections: legitimacy, accessibility of electoral procedures, competitiveness and groundedness. Today, according to VITsOM, about two-thirds of Russians say that the elections are being held fairly. “And of those who go to the polls, 67% say that the elections are fair,” Mr. Mamonov clarified. The importance of these indicators is that the more fair the elections are perceived, the higher the trust, legitimacy and acceptance of the policies implemented by the elected institution, explained Mikhail Mamonov. And according to a VTsIOM poll, 61% of Russians trust the election results (that is, not only the procedure), and over three years this figure has increased by 15 percentage points, said Mikhail Mamonov. “Elections are becoming fairer, elections are becoming more transparent, elections are becoming more interesting,” concluded Mr. Mamonov. However, about a quarter of Russians still doubt the fairness of the expression of will procedure, and among those who go to the polls, this is about 22%, as follows from the results of the opinion poll.

Elena Rozhkova