Translated material
Business as usual scenario
A record number of regional elections were held in Russia on Mental Health Day
About eight thousand elections at various levels took place throughout the country yesterday, on a single voting day on October 10. It became the largest election day in the entire history of this institution, said the Chairman of the Central Election Commission, Vladimir Churov, emphasizing that about 30 million people were included in the voter lists. That is, almost a third of the entire Russian electorate. About 100 thousand candidates for deputies and applicants for the posts of heads of municipalities competed for elective positions.The largest campaigns were in the Belgorod, Magadan, Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk, Kostroma regions, as well as in the Republic of Tuva. Residents of these subjects of the Federation elected new regional parliaments. The preliminary election results were published after the Vremya Novostey issue was signed.
Yesterday, the information center worked all day in the building of the Central Election Commission. Deputy Chairman of the Central Election Commission Leonid Ivlev periodically went on video calls with the heads of regional commissions, who traditionally reported on a stable voter turnout.
Summing up these data, Mr. Ivlev told reporters in the second hour of the day that the turnout in elections to regional parliaments was “on average 1.5-2% higher than the previous time.” And in the Chelyabinsk region, turnout at times jumped as much as twice: by noon, 17% of voters had expressed their will compared to 9% who voted at the same time in the 2005 elections.
The Central Election Commission associated this phenomenon with an active election campaign. It is possible that absentee ballots played a role: in the last regional elections, only 4,800 Chelyabinsk residents received them, and this year - more than 60 thousand. In other words, every second of the 123 thousand coupons distributed to voters throughout the country was issued in Chelyabinsk areas. And the regional election commission still had an impressive reserve, “frozen” after a complaint from the speaker of the Federation Council, leader of A Just Russia, Sergei Mironov. As Leonid Ivlev told Vremya Novostey, as a result there weren’t even enough absentee ballots in the Chelyabinsk region.
During voting day, the CEC received a complaint that absentee ballots in the city were being sold for 2,000 rubles. per piece, but Mr. Ivlev ridiculed this information: “Can you imagine that someone would pay that kind of money, and even that there would be queues for IDs?”
Chairman of the Rostov Regional Election Commission Sergei Yusov yesterday boasted of the “most modern in Russia” polling station 1643, which was “literally loaded with technological developments, including portable ballot boxes equipped with GLONASS system sensors.” Despite this, by midday only 4.5% of citizens had reached the ballot boxes to vote in the city Duma elections. The previous time by the same hour it was 11.7%. Most likely, the heavy rain that hit the city in the morning prevented Rostovites from fulfilling their civic duty.
However, in another southern city, Krasnodar, the violence of the elements was not observed, however, even there by 12 noon the turnout in the elections to the City Duma slightly exceeded 8%, whereas in 2005 by 1 pm it had already reached 13%. The chairman of the city election commission, Viktor Tushev, connected this with the abolition of the early voting system. By five o'clock in the evening, Kostroma was far behind in turnout - less than 20% of voters there came to the polls.
There were few emergency incidents on election day.
In Vladivostok, telephone terrorists threatened to mine polling stations - the police checked the information and found no confirmation, but just in case they strengthened the security of the polling stations. The phone number of the hooligan has been identified and an investigation is underway. In Arkhangelsk, at one of the polling stations, voting had to be interrupted for 30 minutes due to the threat of fire - wooden warehouses caught fire next to the school where the polling station was equipped.
Dagestan has once again become the hottest spot on the map of voting Russia. Let us recall that a year ago, on October 11, 2009, elections for the mayor of the city of Derbent were held in the republic, which were accompanied by mass riots - even shooting at polling stations. Subsequently, the court overturned the election results, and yesterday the mayor of Derbent was elected for the second time. The head of the Central Election Commission, Vladimir Churov, personally went there to monitor order. This time the voting took place without incident. But there was a fire in the village of Khadzhalmakhi, Levashinsky district of the republic: there, as a result of a mass brawl, the head of the village administration, Abdulmuslim Nurmagomedov, died. Two more people were hospitalized with gunshot wounds. The deceased did not stand as a candidate in these elections. According to the police, the fight was preceded by the theft of 4,500 ballots. The Central Election Commission clarifies that the fight with bloodshed did not take place at the polling station.
In general, as Leonid Ivlev told reporters, the elections were held “within the legal framework.” By the time the issue of Vremya Novostei was signed, the CEC had received 57 complaints, which, according to Mr. Ivlev, were “not of a significant nature.” The only thing under threat is the election of the head of the Moscow region Shchelkov - there, a vigilant citizen saw two seals on the ballot at once, from the precinct and territorial election commission, and immediately filed a lawsuit to cancel the voting results. The investigation is ahead, but the CEC representatives do not like the fact that the plaintiff first indicated in her application that the violation was discovered in one area, and then corrected it by hand in another.
Thus, voting day passed, using the terminology of political scientists, according to the inertial scenario. However, the main passions flare up after the ballot boxes are opened and at least the first results are announced. Until this moment, the parties had not made loud statements. “The WHO (World Health Organization. - Ed. ) considers October 10th World Mental Health Day,” Kirill Serdyukov, a member of the Central Election Commission with an advisory voice from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, reminded a Vremya Novostey correspondent. “Let’s hope that in this regard there will be common sense will prevail."