We vote ahead of schedule!

The Constitutional Court corrected the legislators and gave new opportunities to the administrative resource

The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation returned the "early vote." The very one with which the opposition and independent observers fought for ten years, considering it one of the main components of the “administrative resource”. They fought and eventually achieved its cancellation. Part of the observers Return “Dosrochki” supports - by the fact that its abolition violates the constitutional rights of citizens. The opposition, in turn, is sure that this will again lead to massive violations in the nearest elections - in September.

The Legislative Assembly of the Vladimir Region appealed to the Constitutional Court - believing that the ban on the “dosrochki” (with the exception of living in “hard -to -reach or remote areas”, as well as sailors and polar explorers) “deprives a significant part of citizens of the opportunity to implement active suffrage”. For example, those who go on a business trip or will be in the hospital and will not be able to arrive at the polling station. In addition, the unified voting day (the second Sunday of September) falls on the period of vacations and active seasonal migration, and the number of voters who on this day cannot appear at the polling station and vote is quite large.

Thus, in their opinion, the law infringes the constitutional rights of a large group of voters.

The Constitutional Court agreed with this position - deciding that "the conditions and procedures of conducting elections aimed at ensuring their honesty, transparency and opposition to abuse should not establish unreasonable restrictions for citizens and force them to refuse to participate in voting." And that if the legislator did not completely abandon the institute of early voting, he, therefore, “does not consider the possible violations possible during its use by the predetermined nature of this institution, provided that the proper organization, ensuring its reliability, efficiency and transparency”.

Olga Khokhryakova, judge of the Constitutional Court, stated the objections of opponents that the violations should be warned, and the elections should be organized so that there are no violations at all.

As a result, the State Duma was prescribed to change the electoral legislation, and before that they can provide citizens who will not be able to vote for valid reasons on their site on elections day, the possibility of early voting. This means that even if the State Duma does not change anything in the laws before the fall, everyone who reports a “good reason” (vacation, business trip, labor and educational activities, fulfillment of state and public duties, health status) will allow to vote ahead of schedule.

That is, everything that we have seen for ten years will return to us again: the “A subscriptions” from the so -called “social groups controlled by the authorities” - pensioners, students, state employees, and the military - and vote ahead of schedule will come to the election commissions. You yourself, you know how it is a batch.

Experts of the Voice organization, as already mentioned, consider the return of the "early" the return, because, they say, it ensures the electoral rights of citizens.

“You can furnish early voting with conditions that do not allow it to use it without really important grounds,” says Grigory Golosov. And he adds that, of course, it can contribute to falsification, "but not critical." Andrei Buzin echoes him: “Subscribing to all procedural rules, early voting can also be made transparent.”

Great dreams - what else to say.

The simplest thing is about the "non -critical contribution."

In St. Petersburg, in the municipal elections in 2004-2005, when early voting was allowed, in a number of districts up to 30% of the total (!) Voters were “volunteered” ahead of schedule. Thousands of citizens brought the same statements about “leaving for the cottage” on the voting day (we note that the elections were held in December) or “vacation” (which looked especially touching in the event of 80-year-old applicants).

According to the law, the votes of the “armor” are subject to a separate calculation - and an amazing picture was revealed: on the same polling station, those who voted early, in 90–95% of cases cast votes for “United Russia”, and those who came on the day of the elections gave “bears” to “bears” at 5-10% of the vote. For the Democrats, the picture changed to the opposite: on the election day, they could get up to 40% of the vote, but the "pre -graders" categorically refused them in trust.

You can argue: the same "armor" could come on the day of voting and vote in the same way. So, not so. Firstly, for two weeks of early voting, the authorities have the opportunity to control this process. Relatively speaking, if it turned out that the teachers from such and such a school did not come today-you can make them come tomorrow. You can increase the pressure: for example, in St. Petersburg in 2004, in clinics and kindergartens, they promised not to issue a salary to those who would not vote. And retirement voters were called to “re-register benefits” or “reconciliation of lists of beneficiaries”, which for some reason were held in the same buildings where election commissions were located. You can attract the new "pre -graders." You can, in the end, drive so many “prechines” to the plots that almost nothing will depend on the choice of other citizens on the voting day - the result will be predetermined by those who came ahead of schedule.

Secondly, early voting is much more difficult for independent observation. The opposition can - albeit with difficulty - attract volunteers in order to provide observers with polling stations on voting day. Find people who will be ready to observe for two weeks is an almost unsolved task. So, "stuffing" are inevitable.

Thirdly, all the days, while early voting, the ballots of the "early cities" are at the disposal of the election commission and are hidden from public control. Replace some ballots with others - just spit. With total control of the election commission by the authorities, which in recent years has become a “good tradition”: the opposition, with rare exceptions, simply do not include in the commission.

Now - about the "procedural rules."

The list of “good reasons” specified in the decision of the Constitutional Court gives the widest opportunities for abuse.

The fact of vacation or business trip on the voting day can theoretically be confirmed. And for the absence of abuse - to oblige citizens voting ahead of schedule to submit copies of relevant orders. The fact of the execution of “state duties” can also be confirmed - in accordance with the Labor Code, such a document is a summons on an appeal for military training, a call to the military registration and enlistment office, to the court, to the bodies of inquiry, preliminary investigation, tax authorities and the like.

But with “public duties” everything is much more cunning: the law speaks of “attracting an employee to the activities of a certain public association”. This means that we are guaranteed a stream of papers from linden “public organizations” certifying that their members on the voting day, all as one should participate in some public campaign, and therefore they must be given to vote ahead of schedule.

Working hours or study? The work can still be understood: there are continuous production, and this theoretically can be confirmed. But in principle, there can be no study on Sundays.

Finally, such a good reason as “health status”. And laughter and sin: can a citizen know in advance that he will get sick on voting day? He can only know in advance what will go to the hospital - but in a stationary medical institution he will be provided with the right to vote. Why does he need a "early"?

Now - the main thing. Current election commission will be to check the accuracy of all these “good reasons”. As already mentioned, under the total control of the authorities. Is it really not clear that they will not check anything from those who will massively be driven by the authorities to early voting? As in the 2011 elections, they did not check the fake “temporary registration”: then the groups of “touring” with fake certificates drove from one section to another and voted everywhere ...

There is no dispute, in the country with honest election commission, an independent court and law enforcement agencies subordinate only to the law in early voting, there would be nothing reprehensible. In our situation, any mechanism that can be used for abuse will necessarily be used. And therefore the decision of the COP seems to be very, very dangerous.

However, there is one plus: the hasty return of the "End" shows that the authorities are still afraid of honest elections. And apparently, he understands that the current military-patriotic hysteria and take-off ratings-not for long.

There may not be enough elections before the autumn elections.