interruptions with the DEG, parties recall observers

On Friday, March 15, voting in the presidential elections began in Russia. It will last three days and will end on the main election day on Sunday, March 17.

A few hours after the start of voting on services where remote electronic voting (DEG) is conducted – on “Gosuslug” and the mos.ru portal, messages appeared about possible malfunctions in their work, “Kommersant” drew attention. The messages say that the services work in the “electronic queue” mode.

“The electronic queue is a planned normal algorithm. If you get into it, you just need to wait a little or come back to vote later,” says Artyom Kostyrko, a representative of the Moscow City Hall.

Earlier, Telegram channels wrote that budget workers are called to vote precisely from the morning of March 15, the co-chairman of “Golosa” Stanislav Andreychuk also noted that the nature of such excitement is understandable: “they vote from the morning at work places under the watchful eye of the bosses.” Voters in Moscow are photographed with ballots for “some accountability,” writes “Sota” (the practice was discontinued after the announcement). The Ministry of Defense of Russia reported on the voting of its chief Sergei Shoigu and chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov.

In Voronezh, an observer found ballots in a ballot box even before the opening of the polling station, the Telegram channel “Dissident” reports, publishing a photo. At the request of the observer, the ballots were removed from the ballot box. At the second site, the observer pointed to an illegal campaign – a portrait of Putin and his quote on the wall. Putin was hung with a sheet.

The turnout for elections on the territory of Russia and the Ukrainian territories occupied by it at 14:00 Moscow time is 8.96%, broadcast live by the CEC. At the same time, according to the data of regional election committees, more than half of all voters have already voted in Chukotka, about 44% in Kamchatka, and slightly more than 21% in Khabarovsk Krai. In Moscow, 22% of voters already voted with the help of DEG.

In Khanty-Mansiysk, volunteer Polina Zmanovska, who was conducting an exit poll from the “Grazhdanskaya Initiative” party (the only anti-war candidate Boris Nadezhdin was nominated from her), was detained near the polling station. Zmanovska is left for the night at the police station. She is suspected of forging documents, writes “OVD-Info”. Pressure on the organizers of exit polls is also reported from St. Petersburg and Kazan.

The movement for the protection of voters’ rights “Voter” reports that so far the polling stations are mostly occupied by observers from presidential candidate Vladimir Putin and the Public Chamber (they were instructed to monitor the action “Noon against Putin”). In Chelyabinsk, the LDPR removed its observer, in Ivanovo several observers were recalled by the proxy of the CPRF candidate Mykola Kharitonov.

“New People” and their candidate Vladyslav Davankov still did not issue directions to the observation associations, Andreychuk reports. At the end of February, he published the first message about the refusal of “New People” to observe. After that, the party press service contacted him and confirmed that there would be directions.

According to the CEC, more than 333 thousand observers will watch the elections, including 706 people from 106 countries around the world.

A volunteer from the Public Chamber told the Telegram channel “Vybory, vesm TSYK!” that the system of video surveillance cameras for the elections did not work before the start of voting. Whether it works now is unknown: the CEC closed public access to video surveillance in 2021.

The CEC called for “strengthening the protection” of ballot boxes due to damage to ballots with ink in Rostov and Karachay-Cherkessia. “In two subjects, ink was poured into the urn, both women and men do it,” the CEC reported. The commission did not specify how exactly it is now necessary to protect the ballot boxes.

At two polling stations in Borysoglebsk, Voronezh Region, voters poured ballots into ballot boxes with green paint, Bloknot Borysoglebsk writes. It is known that one of them was detained, the ballot boxes were sealed, members of the commission are on duty at the boxes, the regional government was informed.

A similar case occurred in Moscow: a voter poured a coloring substance into the ballot box, reports the capital SC. The woman is detained, a criminal case has been initiated against her under the article on obstructing the exercise of electoral rights.

• Vladimir Putin, who has ruled Russia since 2000, is running for a fifth term. In addition to the current president, there are three candidates in the elections – Vladyslav Davankov, State Duma vice-speaker from the New People party, State Duma deputies Nikolai Kharitonov from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and Leonid Slutsky from the LDPR. The Central Election Commission refused registration to all candidates from non-parliamentary parties and self-nominations who collected signatures.
• Voting in the presidential elections of Russia will take place from March 15 to 17, 2024. Elections in Russia are assessed by independent observers and experts as not free and dishonest. The authorities intervene in the election process, create advantages for pro-power candidates, and in some cases there are direct falsifications.
• A number of members of the European Parliament and other politicians call not to recognize the results of the Russian presidential election and, consequently, Putin’s legitimacy. They indicate both the voting in the occupied territories and, for example, the adopted amendments to the Constitution, allowing Putin to run for a fifth term. Leaders of Western countries did not talk about the possibility of non-recognition of election results.