On Monday, the Russian Central Election Commission held a presentation of a new information center; the head of the Central Election Commission, Vladimir Churov , who was present at the event , announced that he intended to abandon the image of a wizard.

A huge screen consisting of 21 video panels and five smaller format screens were installed in the building, which make it possible to monitor the progress of voting and summing up election results both at the local and regional scale, and at the federal level.

As CEC member Valery Kryukov emphasized , the reconstruction was a giant step towards “openness, transparency and reliability of information.” He confirmed that such a system does not exist anywhere in Europe today.

The project price was about 100 million rubles.

The first “exam” for the new information center will be a single voting day on September 8, 2013. On Monday, video bridges were held with a number of regions, during which journalists working in Moscow could congratulate their families on the New Year.

“The decorated Christmas tree also reminded us of the coming holiday in a few hours. However, answering questions from journalists, Churov said that this time he “refused the Santa Claus costume, because I need to get rid of the image of a wizard,” ITAR-TASS reports about the presentation.

In December 2011, Dmitry Medvedev , who then held the post of head of state, compared Churov to a wizard.

“You’re almost a magician, some party leaders call you that,” the president said, saying that the head of the Central Election Commission, before voting in the Duma elections, absolutely accurately predicted what the turnout would be. “I’m just learning,” Churov replied.

Churov presented the new information center of the Central Election Commission and announced the abandonment of the image of a wizard - Gazeta.Ru