The right to observe

On June 29, a special round table for observers should go to the Central Election Commission. The new chairman of the CEC Ella Pamfilova has a difficult task: on the one hand, the presidential administration declares a course for “open and legitimate elections”, which is impossible without the participation of observant public organizations, on the other hand, a number of laws adopted by the Duma almost deprives the possibility of fulfilling their work. As organizations that identified election violations in 2011 and 2012, are going to work during the 2016 vote-the New Times was versed

The Chairman of the CEC of the Russian Federation is ready to put out observers-publications to the polls, deputies-no. From right to left: Gennady Zyuganov (Communist Party), Ella Pamfilova, Vladimir Zhirinovsky (LDPR), Sergey Neverov (EP), Moscow, June 20, 2016

In the near -party political life - a short lull: parties are preparing to conduct election congresses and nominate candidates for the State Duma, candidates are undergoing recent negotiations and collect the documents necessary for registration. But in the Central Election Commission, events follow the events: not so long ago, the chairman of the St. Petersburg election commission Alexei Puchnin was resigned, and the other day Irek Vildanov, chairman of the Moscow Region of the Electoral Commission, left his post. Vildanov is remembered not only by the recent scandal with the abolition of elections in Barvich near Moscow (see NT No. 16 of May 16, 2016 ). He came to the view of journalists earlier: in the spring of 2015, in local elections in the Balashikha near Moscow, observer Stanislav Pozdnyakov was beaten so that he had to remove the spleen. The attack on Pozdnyakov and the observer Dmitry Nesterov, who worked with him, occurred when they recorded a serious violation in the site No. 576. Pozdnyakov and Nesterov detained a woman who tried to throw the ballots and called the police. At that moment, a BMW black car drove up to the site, from where the unknown people came out and attacked the observers. Contractors and customers of the crime have not yet been found. After the beating, Wildanov said that observers were trained in the “fascist camps in Poland” and “wanted to disrupt the elections”. He also organized special courses for lower election commissions to counteract observers.

The issue of building relationships with observers' organizations is important for the updated composition of the Central Election Commission: the presidential administration fears a repetition of the situation in 2011-2012, when indignation in the elections gave rise to a whole wave of urban protests. The active work of public organizations of observers - “Voices”, Sonara, “Observer Citizen” - played a noticeable role in the identification of stuffing, “carousels” and other violations in the areas.

And now the new CEC chairman Ella Pamfilova constantly emphasizes that she intends to cooperate with observers to ensure maximum honesty of vote count, and even personally visited the forum of observers this spring. Pamfilova, like the chairman of the Presidential Council for Human Rights, Mikhail Fedotov, advocates expanding the possibilities of independent election observation, and in particular, for the introduction of formats that allow the local level to take part in observation to groups of citizens and public organizations (according to the law, only candidates or party can be sent to sites).

The State Duma refers to the observation process in a completely different way: in the spring of 2016, amendments were adopted, according to which the party or candidate will be able to send no more than two observers for each site, one person can only be sent to one site, which makes the work of mobile groups impossible, and the list of observers will have to be submitted to the commission in three days, which will limit the time of recruiting volunteers on the election day.

Between the CEC and the supporters of the “honest elections” from the AP, on the one hand, and those who seek to get rid of independent observers, on the other, are forced to maneuver the heroes of 2011-2012, who then managed to observe the elections not only to express a political position, but even something like a fashionable hobby.

"Voice" under the blow

Grigory Melkonants, a low black -haired man, the Executive Director of the Voice association, became famous throughout the country in the fall of 2011 thanks to the NTV Voice Create about terrible observers receiving the Gosdnate Gosters for the failure of the election. Correspondents of the TV channel in their proprietary manner broke into the office of the association and began to ask questions about these same grants. Usually the “victims” are either silent or trying to explain themselves. Melkonian chose a different tactic.

“You are Surkov’s propaganda,” he repeated several dozen times in a few minutes of his airtime, answering this phrase to any NTV questions.

- Have you received a grant of the State Department?

- You are Surkovskaya propaganda.

And so on. The curator of domestic politics has long changed: in December 2011, Vyacheslav Volodin replaced Vladislav Surkov, but the meme is alive to this day.

Then the Association “Voice” (founded back in 2000) became famous and led by Melkonian. In 2011, the Voice created an interactive project “Map of Violations” with a simple and convenient service that allows you to report any violation of the electoral legislation by any party (most violations allowed how easily guessed, “United Russia”). Journalists actively used the card to give violations by publicity, and the United Russia launched their “card” in response, which could be reported to violations of any batch, except EP. The project was not popular.

After the beating, Wildanov said that observers were trained in “fascist camps in Poland” and “wanted to disrupt the elections”

In 2012, the law “On Foreign Agents” was adopted, according to which an organization engaged in “political activity” and receiving money from abroad is obliged to register in a special register of the Ministry of Justice. The Voice Association was recognized as the “foreign agent” the first. At the same time, the Voice stopped receiving foreign grants before the adoption of the law, but in 2012 the Association was awarded the Andrei Sakharov Award from the Norwegian Helsinki Committee. The Association refused to send a letter to Sberbank with a request to transfer money back to Sberbank. However, the Ministry of Justice found that foreign financing was received, and the “Voice” was recorded in the register. The following were followed by numerous courts. In 2014, amendments to the electoral legislation banned “foreign agents” participating in any activities related to the elections, and the “voice” was reformatted into the public movement “Voice in Protection of the Rights of Voters”.

A chance for observers

Another plot unfolds in parallel: the Presidential Grant received the movement twice to observe the election (in total - 12 million rubles), and one of the founders of the association, Lilia Shibanov, was included in the Presidential Council for Human Rights.

In March 2016, the State Duma, without any public discussion, adopted amendments to the electoral legislation that seriously limiting the work of journalists in polling stations. In particular, only journalists accredited in the Central Election Commission or lower election commissions will be allowed to work in the areas, and for accreditation the journalist will be required five months before the elections to be listed as a full -time employee of the publication. When adopting amendments, no one hid: they are directed against observers from the “voice”, since the movement issues a newspaper and accredents its observers to plots as journalists, since media employees have more rights than observers from parties and candidates.

“The NTV film about Voice gave the tributary of people, and the more we will be pressed, the more observers will eventually come to the polls. "Dark Tower" is our advertising agents "

At the same time, at a meeting of the Council under the President on Human Rights, Mikhail Fedotov proposed returning to the topic of public observation and still look for opportunities for public organizations to take part in it. The Chairman of the CEC Ella Pamfilova, at the discussion of the instructions for accreditation of journalists to the elections, also said that they should not worry about the fate of observers from the “voice”: they will find some option for them.

Grigory Melkonets described the NT situation with the “voice”: “I have the concept of two conditional towers of the Kremlin. One tower is interested in making the elections look as decent as possible. And there is a conditional “dark tower” that it does not suit all this and which fights with the opposition with rigid methods. One of the parties has an understanding that without a “voice” not to achieve an increase in confidence in the elections, since it has a tremendous internal and international reputation. The other believes that in principle there should not be “votes”. This tower demonizes observers in every possible way. ” He expects that as the voting date approaches, attempts to discredit observers will be more acute.

Fall of interest

Over the past years, observers gained experience, but lost their former fuse, representatives of two more independent observer organizations - Sonar and the “Observer”. Vasily Weissenberg from Sonar speaks directly: people's interest in observing the election falls.

“The violations themselves are shifted from the day of voting to the stage of the election campaign, therefore, on the day of voting, nothing more often happens, although there are exceptions.

And it all depends on the candidates in the districts: there will be interesting candidates - then people will go to observe. There is a backbone of observers who are a wheel in the country and observe small elections, but there are very few of them. Now the main task is to build a long -term monitoring system for the stages of the election campaign, ”says Vysenberg.

Grigory Melkonets (“Voice”) is sure that the struggle of the “Dark Tower” against observers will help civil society rally, Moscow, February 24, 2016

The interest in observing the elections is now lower than in the 2012 presidential election or in the 2013 mayor’s elections, but representatives of observation organizations are now often not only in the PEC (precinct election commissions), but also in TIC (territorial election commissions), says Mikhail Timonov from the “observer citizen”.

“Before we began to restore the structure in Moscow, it seemed that the matter was bad. But it was worth starting, to indicate that the coordinating principle is lively, and people started up! And by and large, the number of observers will depend on how interesting the elections will be and how much people are landscaping by the fall, ”Timonov believes. He is sure that honest elections are a “fuse from the explosion” for the authorities, especially since the party in the authorities has a total advantage in the form of access to unlimited money and admin resource.

"Dark Tower"

According to a study conducted in May 2016 among the participants of the Voice, Sonara and the “observer citizen” (the total number of respondents is 822 people), only 54% of respondents are going to work as observers in the State Duma elections in September 2016. 8% are not going to participate in observation under any circumstances, 4% more difficult to answer, and 34% will decide depending on the situation. Among the reasons for the refusal of observant activity - “observation of the elections does not make the elections honest” and “final disappointment in the possibility of changes” (these are the most popular answers), and “elections do not change anything”, “falsifiers are not held accountable”, “observation of the elections has become too dangerous.” Some of the refuseniks said that they simply no longer have time for this activity.

Grigory Melkonants notes that in the period between the federal elections, observer organizations monitored the honesty of counting votes in local and regional elections, and it is logical that activity was lower. However, according to his forecasts, at best, about half of the past composition of observers will be connected to these federal elections to observation.

“The question is whether the“ dark tower of the Kremlin ”can help us, because its activity in pressure observers, oddly enough, helps us. The NTV film about the Voice gave the tributary of people, and the more we will be pressed, the more observers will eventually come to the polls. The Dark Tower is our advertising agents, and we will have to maneuver between them and the “bright tower”, as the trends will go in parallel, ”says Melkonian.

Photo: Sergey Fadeichv/TASS, Artem Korotaev/TASS