Honesty and elections

The closer the elections are, the more conversations there are around the integrity of the elections. Oppositionists, government officials, and ordinary citizens talk about this on the Internet, on the streets, and at work. It would seem that everything is quite normal, but one thing is alarming. Some speakers try to narrow the election down to the actual voting and counting of votes. In these attempts, they accuse the oppositionists of allegedly having already declared the elections illegitimate in advance .

Here we should return to the basics of law and social science, and look again at what elections are. So. The following definition is accepted in the social sciences. Elections are the participation of citizens in the exercise of state power and local self-government through free, secret, alternative voting to form government bodies in accordance with the will and interests of voters . An explanation of this concept follows. The concept of “elections” includes the actions of citizens, political parties, public associations, election commissions, state authorities and local governments at all stages of the electoral process ( compiling voter lists, nominating and registering candidates, conducting election campaigns, voting and summarizing its results ) .

As we see, voting itself is only one stage of the electoral process, although not unimportant. But the remaining stages cannot be discounted. And it is precisely these stages that citizens have quite big complaints about. For example, nomination and registration of candidates. Speaking to the Federal Assembly, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev personally recognized the need to change legislation in this area back in December last year. He himself has repeatedly called this procedure “virtually a barrier” for candidates. That is, existing legislation does not allow citizens to exercise their constitutional rights. Even new bills were introduced to the State Duma. But for some reason, all changes will have to come into force only after the next elections.

Another aspect is the conduct of election campaigning. There's not even anything to talk about here. Everyone can see with their own eyes that all federal channels work exclusively for one candidate. For the candidate from the party in power. We have him here both as the current prime minister and twice already as a candidate who went on vacation for one day. There are also a huge number of analytical reports and films about how Putin saved Russia, how he fought the crisis, and God knows what else. The League of Voters wrote an appeal on this matter and sent it to the president, prime minister, and directors of federal channels. Where is the answer? He's gone. No, because there is nothing to say in response. The violation is obvious.

Well, the last moment. How does the nomination of the “main” candidate from the party in power for the 3rd presidential term relate to the Constitution of Russia? This procedure itself directly conflicts with the spirit of the law.

That is why Putin himself calls the current election campaign a “battle for Russia.” Not by “ forming government bodies in accordance with the will and interests of voters,” but by “battle” for one’s retention of power in Russia.