Early voting in the presidential elections of Russia has begun

On Sunday, February 25, early voting in the presidential elections of Russia began. This was reported by the Central Election Commission. The main voting should take place in three days, March 15-17.

The CEC published a selection of photos of the first day of voting, noting that it was held in remote settlements. “The places are really hard to reach: to get there, the members of the election commissions use helicopters, all-terrain vehicles and other passable vehicles,” the message says. At the same time, it does not contain a photo of the voting in the Russian-occupied part of the Zaporozhye region, where, according to the TASS report, it also began on February 25.

According to the law, early voting is possible “in hard-to-reach or remote areas, on ships that will be afloat on the day of voting, at polar stations.” However, the CEC had previously decided that early voting would also be held in the occupied territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. According to the chairwoman of the Zaporozhye election committee, Halyna Katyushchenko, “due to the conditions of the SVO [так российские власти называют войну в Украине – РС]” the entire territory of the region is considered inaccessible. TASS clarifies that “the first to vote are residents of settlements near the line of combat contact, including military personnel.” Voting will begin a little later in the Kherson, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions.

In September 2023, early voting was also held in the occupied territories – in the elections to the Russian regional parliaments. According to the Central Election Commission, 26 to 53% of all voters voted early there, depending on the region.

Earlier, the CEC of Russia published the “peculiarities” of holding elections during the period of martial law in force in the occupied territories. Among other things, the CEC allowed to vote without a passport, to accredit journalists “in a special order”, and also to move ballots and other documents “to a safe place” in case of a threat.

The CEC justified such measures “with the need to ensure the safety of all voting participants.” Some of the provisions directly contradict the federal law “On the Election of the President of Russia”.

• The Russian authorities announced the annexation of four regions of Ukraine in the fall of 2022. At the same time, hostilities continue there, none of the regions is completely under the control of Russia. Voting on the territory of these regions, held in 2023, was not recognized as legitimate by Ukraine and Western countries. The leaders of the “Group of Seven” (G7), which includes the largest countries of the West, in a statement published the day before the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, emphasized that they do not recognize the legitimacy of voting in these territories and in the presidential elections of Russia this year.
• These elections themselves are assessed by independent observers and experts as unfree and dishonest. The authorities regularly intervene in the electoral process, make access to the opposition more difficult, create advantages for pro-power candidates, and in some cases outright falsifications are involved.
• There will be only four candidates on the ballot – the current President Vladimir Putin and representatives of Duma parties. There are no opponents of the invasion of Ukraine and no principled critics of Putin among them.