what type of voting and on what day do parties expect from their voters?
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In most of the 85 regions where elections at various levels began on Friday, the expression of will will last three days, and in 25 subjects remote electronic voting (DEG) will be used. Although the federal leadership of individual parties regularly criticizes these electoral innovations, in the regions, as Kommersant found out, the election strategy of the opposition in relation to the “multi-day” and the DEG does not look so clear.
In 2023, voting in most regions will take place over three days, from September 8 to 10. In the gubernatorial elections, the exceptions will be the Omsk (two days) and Tyumen (one) regions, in the elections to legislative assemblies – Buryatia and Bashkiria (one), to the city councils of regional capitals – Yekaterinburg (two), Magas and Tyumen (one). Within two days, they decided to vote in the only direct mayoral elections this year – in Khabarovsk.
The most consistent position on the multi-day event is held by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. All the communists interviewed by Kommersant said that they urge their voters to come to the polling stations only on the last day, as this helps “to reduce the likelihood of falsification of the results.” In its propaganda, the Communist Party also only mentions September 10th.
“There is no trust in the overnight stay of ballots in safe bags,” explains candidate for governor of the Novosibirsk region Roman Yakovlev, adding that it is best to vote in the afternoon. “Even during the time of coronavirus, this measure was absolutely far-fetched,” complains candidate for Nizhny Novgorod governor Vladislav Egorov. “And even more so now, when all restrictions have been lifted, a single voting day cannot last three days.” However, there are rare exceptions. For example, the head of the Dagestan republican committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Samir Abdulkhalikov, recommends that his comrades come to the polling stations “on any day”: the party is confident in its observers, and two people will be on duty at each precinct all days, he assures.
As it turned out, the LDPR does not have a common position on the best day for voting. Most party members told Kommersant that they hope to see as many of their supporters as possible at the polling stations, and when is not so important. “This is why elections are held for three days so that everyone can vote. You can deceive in three days or in 30 minutes,” says Gavril Parakhin, candidate for the post of head of Yakutia. “It doesn’t matter what day a person votes, it’s important that they vote for the LDPR,” echoes the head of the party faction in the Legislative Assembly of Primorye, Andrei Andreichenko.
There are, however, other opinions in the LDPR. “We traditionally encourage people to come only on the single voting day established by law. This tradition developed under Vladimir Volfovich (Zhirinovsky.— “b”), who always said to vote on the last day of elections,” the Rostov branch of the party told Kommersant. And in the Lipetsk branch they even clarified that they offer to vote an hour before the polls close.
“A Just Russia – For Truth” (SRZP) also has different approaches to this problem. If in the Rostov region the Socialist Revolutionaries call on people to come to the polling stations “only on September 10,” then in Primorye, “taking into account the good weather forecast,” they recommend that supporters vote on Friday, and on the weekend “enjoy the beautiful coastal autumn.” The New People demonstrate a similar dichotomy. In the Amur region they ask voters to “protect themselves” and vote on Sunday, because then “the votes will be preserved and nothing will happen to them,” but in Yakutia they see no point in this.
Finally, United Russia (UR) is trying to avoid this topic altogether: several of its branches explained to Kommersant that informing citizens about voting dates is the prerogative of election commissions, and people should make a choice when it is convenient for them. “If a person has plans for the weekend, he can vote on a working day,” explains Anton Kapralov, deputy chairman of the Yaroslavl Regional Duma from United Russia. Although he himself is used to going to the polling station on Sunday: “I take the children to teach them to vote.”
Regional party members have much more definite views on the DEG: the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the SRZP unanimously urge their supporters not to participate in it, the LDPR and New People support the DEG, and United Russia leaves the choice to the voters.
The position of the leading party bodies regarding the “multi-day meeting” and the DEG, as it turned out, also does not always coincide with the views of the regional branches. The most consistent in this sense are United Russia and the Communists.
“Our voters are advanced users of all voting formats,” says Sergei Perminov, Deputy Secretary of the United Russia General Council. “They have always been active at the polling stations, many have experience of voting online. As for the choice of the day, it all depends on the citizen: someone, as it often turns out, is close to decisively casting a vote right away and devoting the weekend to rest.” The invariability of the unified party position is confirmed by State Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Denis Parfenov: “While there are no tools that allow us to make sure that the votes in the DEG are counted correctly, we invite our voter to the polling stations on September 10 – and demand a paper ballot.”
The leadership of the LDPR, as the deputy head of the party’s Supreme Council Yaroslav Nilov told Kommersant, also guided supporters in the regions to September 10: “We remember the negative practice of past years, when safe packages were supposedly kept under guard, but what happened to them— unclear”. But regarding the form of expression of will, the party member is not so categorical: “On the one hand, electronic voting is, of course, convenient, on the other, it is more difficult to control this form than the established one.”
Secretary of the Presidium of the Central Council of the SRZP Dmitry Gusev says that the Social Revolutionaries also prefer voting at polling stations on the last day, although they consider digitalization inevitable: “In the future, more and more people will vote using DEG. But we need to work so that people trust the DEG and recognize the election results, and we in the party are doing this.” But the party did not transmit centralized instructions to localities, he adds: “Everything depends on the situation in a particular region.”
Finally, the press service of “New People” told Kommersant that they equally welcome both forms of expression of will, but still recommend voting on the last day. At the same time, the party leadership again did not give clear instructions to the regional cells: “They make decisions (locally.— “b”) independently, since the situation is different in all regions.”
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