‘Forced to vote’

Election watchdog warns of likely voter coercion as early lines form outside Russian polling stations

Polls for Russia’s three-day presidential election have opened nationwide. In Siberia and the Far East, lines began to form even before the polling stations opened. Meanwhile, Moscow’s remote electronic voting platform has been facing technical difficulties due to an unusually high volume of users. As Agenstvo reports, Stanislav Andreychuk, the co-chair of the independent election watchdog Golos, believes both issues are the result of the authorities coercing people to vote.

“In the second half of the 1930s, a Soviet election tradition emerged: the more loyal you were, the earlier you arrived. In Stalin’s era, one had to line up at 4:00 a.m.,” Russian political scientist Ekaterina Shulman said before the elections, commenting on the meaning of early morning lines.

Indeed, lines started forming outside polling stations in Siberia and the Far East long before voting was officially open. In Moscow, there was also an unusually high number of people trying to vote right at the start of the election. The portal for remote electronic voting moved users into an electronic line, reported Agenstvo. However, Stanislav Andreychuk believes that all of this is the result of people being pressured into voting.

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“People come to work and are forced to vote and report back,” he said. “The first day of voting has started, and everything is unfolding exactly as we predicted. Since early morning, a huge number of people have been voting under coercion. There are no [independent] observers and there are [efforts to thwart] exit polls.”

Authorities are also resorting to more conventional methods of encouraging voter turnout, noted Agenstvo. Costumed characters have been spotted spreading cheer at polling stations, as well as ceremoniously casting their votes.