Young people want to watch

Dissatisfaction with the December elections is pushing young people to take decisive action. The St. Petersburg Observers association, born in January, is ready to counter fraud in the presidential elections.

Faculty of Philosophy student Anastasia Stasenko says that the association’s activities are not connected with any party. A group “St. Petersburg - for fair elections!” was opened on the social network “VKontakte!”, in which more than 9 thousand people are already registered. In every district, voters come together to learn how to control power. According to Anastasia, there are already about 3 thousand people in regional groups. The association provides training to those who intend to become election observers.
Observers want to build a system of operational civilian control and inform about the actions of the authorities. Observers had come to elections before, but more often than not they did not know each other and did not know how to interact and withstand the onslaught in the event of combating violations.
Those wishing to become observers can register on the association’s website http://spbelect.org. According to activist Alexandra Krylenkova, before the elections, lawyers will give lectures to observers, and teacher-psychologists should use training to prepare people to work in a stressful situation. Classes will be taught by teachers from St. Petersburg universities. The Association also intends to attract graduate students to assist observers in drawing up protocols.
Sergei Karashevich, a participant in the Antikarousel project, said that it is planned to work with mobile groups that will travel around the territory and come to the site to provide assistance.
“If observers are kicked out, a mobile group will arrive consisting of a journalist, a lawyer and a reserve observer,” Karashevich reveals the idea.
“There were many situations,” adds Krylenkova, “when observers were kicked out and they went to the party headquarters for a referral to another site. And their territory remained open to any machinations.
The speakers also shared ideas for actions. For example, in the Kalininsky district, according to the results of the vote count, there were several houses where more than 80% allegedly voted for United Russia, while in the neighboring ones - 32%. The leaflets posted on these houses cited these eloquent figures and asked the reader: “Do you believe this?” Activists reported that an action was being prepared in the near future in the territory where the commission that falsified the voting results consists of teachers. The slogan of the action is “These people teach your children!”

Alexey DIACHENKO