Finish line

United Russia has problems with the design of ballot papers

Despite the close finish of the election race, the intensity of electoral passions in the political field is not observed. On the contrary, party ratings are falling , as evidenced by the results of a VTsIOM survey released yesterday, conducted on November 17-18 in 46 regions of the country. 1,600 people were surveyed, of which 74.1% expressed their readiness to go to the polls on December 2. Of these conscious citizens, 63.8% decided to give their votes to the United Russia party. Thus, the sliding decline in the “bears’” rating, which had been observed since the end of October, stopped, despite the fact that the party’s list was headed by Vladimir Putin. Experts explained this paradox this way: having entered the name of the guarantor into the ranks of their candidates, United Russia decided that victory was in their pocket, they relaxed and did not conduct the campaign convincingly and actively enough.

The second party, which, according to VTsIOM, can barely cross the seven percent threshold in the elections, is the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. She is promised a “tick” by 7.3% of those who want to vote. “A Just Russia” and the Liberal Democratic Party receive 6 and 5.2% respectively, thus not getting into the State Duma. And the ratings of all other parties turned out to be significantly less than the statistical error of 3.4%. In particular, only 1.2% declared support for Yabloko, and the Union of Right Forces received potential votes from only 0.9% of respondents going to the polls. Judging by these data, Russia expects a two-party Duma, in which, in addition to the party in power, only one opposition party can get into it, and even that will be able to form only a small faction.

It is significant that under these conditions, applicants for Duma mandates are not concerned about global strategic prospects, but about little things that can easily be relegated to the realm of casuistry. Thus, United Russia suddenly became concerned about its place on the ballot. On the layout, party emblems are placed on the left, and empty squares on the right. At the same time, the signature United Russia bear found itself dangerously close to the Communist Party of the Russian Federation square. Representatives of the party in power were afraid that part of the electorate would mistakenly tick off the Zyuganovites.

The Central Election Commission took these concerns unexpectedly seriously. “The Russian Central Election Commission is now stepping on the same rake as the Americans did in Florida during the election of the 43rd US President in 2000,” said commission member Igor Borisov. He recalled that in the state of Florida, during electronic voting, the “for” button for one of the candidates turned out to be closer to the name of his opponent, so many people mistakenly voted for the wrong person. At the same time, Mr. Borisov noted that it is too late to reprint the ballots, because they have already been used during early voting abroad. Therefore, all that remains is to carry out “clear explanatory work.” In this regard, it is planned to urgently launch educational videos on television with calls to put a tick to the right - meaning that the voting box is located to the right of the political party's emblem.

However, in the end, the CEC decided not to rely on explanations and at yesterday’s meeting decided: the line dividing the ballot into two columns should become bolder. A line 4 mm thick should be enough to prevent the votes of the party in power from falling to the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the votes of the Union of Right Forces to Yabloko, and the LDPR to the Agrarian Party. An extra line is not considered a change in the ballot, emphasized CEC Secretary Nikolai Konkin, and “local election commissions have enough time to apply a thick line even manually, not to mention using printing technology.”

Also the other day, CEC member Igor Borisov gave some recommendations on the next important issue - which icon to put in the selected box. The fact is that representatives of the Internet community proposed to make rather dull elections more fun by voting instead of traditional checkmarks with innovative emoticons (the :- icon, indicating a smile). However, Mr. Borisov advises to refrain from excessive creativity: smiling ballots may be considered invalid during the counting of votes. According to the law, a voter has the right to depict any icon, Mr. Borisov recalled, but in such a way that “his will is clear.” And the precinct election commission may interpret an emoticon as an expression of disdain or simple hooliganism. By the way, formally, instead of a tick on the ballot as a “sign of will,” it is not prohibited to put, for example, a swastika.

Natalia ROZHKOVA