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The Voice movement criticized the introduction of political KPIs for vice-governors

The introduction of KPIs by the Kremlin for deputy governors responsible for domestic policy in the conduct of elections by the Golos movement. was called the interference of the presidential administration in the electoral process

On the eve it became known that for the period of the election campaign, the Kremlin set such indicators as the KPI for vice-governors for domestic policy, such as the result of a candidate from the government or the party in power following the results of the campaign, the legitimacy of the elections, the level of turnout.

“Such guidelines in the upcoming elections on September 8, 2019 can stimulate the abuse of administrative resources, which has been repeatedly criticized by both society and government officials. The desire to please the leadership of the country will push the leaders of some regions to abuse their powers and violate the law (in particular, Article 17 of the Federal Law “On the State Civil Service of the Russian Federation”, which prohibits the use of the advantages of official position in the interests of political parties or for the purposes of election campaigning). Abuse of administrative resources, undisguised and legalized in the minds of the performers by the approved KPIs, will eventually lead to an explosion of public protest,” the Voice says.

The Movement reminds that Russian legislation does not allow the intervention of either the presidential administration or regional administrations in the electoral process in order to achieve a certain result in the elections. “Executive authorities and their officials cannot replace election commissions, and even more so they have no right to interfere in the election process, support candidates, influence turnout, tell anyone what the result of the elections should be, influence in any other way on the voters expressing their will,” the authors of the appeal note.

The only indicators of the assessment of the heads of regional administrations by the federal government should be the requirements for strict observance of the law and the compliance of election campaigns with the standards of free and fair elections, the Voice stressed.

The authors of the statement appeal to the president, the leadership of his administration and the CEC with a request "to express an unambiguous position on the inadmissibility of interference by administrations of all levels in the electoral process." They also noted that the tools for assessing the activities of public authorities should themselves be open and public. Therefore, the Kremlin should place the mentioned KPIs for public review, public and expert discussion.