Elections in Russia: a poll under surveillance and in search of credibility
The Moscow State Election Monitoring Center during the second day of a three-day vote in Moscow, September 18, 2021. REUTERS - EVGENIA NOVOZHENINA
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
Third and last day, this Sunday, of legislative but also local elections in Russia.
Elections where almost no opponent can stand and where the question of the sincerity of the ballot arises.
RFI met in Moscow an independent member of an electoral commission.
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With our correspondent in Moscow,
Anissa El Jabri
We find him in front of the gates of the polling station where he volunteers to check the smooth running of operations twelve hours a day.
At 41, Andrei Tcherviakov is passionate about politics, election observer since 1999 when he is a student, legislative candidate for the centrist Yabloko party, it was in 2011, "
when we still had fair elections
", he said, and yet the experience had already proved difficult.
“
I saw what was happening.
We went from 18% when counting the ballots in the polling stations to 4% once arrived at the regional electoral office.
So I wanted to become a member of the electoral commission precisely so that the law is applied correctly
”, he assures us.
The results that change along the way, Andrei Tcherviakov assures him, it's over.
On the other hand, the novelty this year is in the video surveillance of the ballot.
“
Before, there were people who stayed at home throughout the election to monitor everything live and identify fraud
, he notes.
Some even had precise software that could count the number of people who had come to a polling station and compare with official figures.
This time, for these elections, free access to videos is restricted.
"
► See also: Legislative elections locked and maximum pressure in Russia
The Russian electoral commission assures us: if access is now granted on request and in advance, it is to avoid any foreign interference in the elections.
Smart voting hampered
The so-called smart vote is now almost completely hampered since
Google and Apple
removed the application from the Navalny movement under pressure from the authorities.
Relatives of the imprisoned activist had attempted the parade using the Telegram Messenger channel, particularly popular in Russia, but the Russian founder of Telegram followed Google and Apple and withdrew his application.
It no longer publishes the recommendations of the opponent's movement on its couriers.
►
See also: Legislative in Russia: Telegram in turn removes an application from supporters of Navalny
The order of the supporters of Alexey Navalny most of the time is to vote for a Communist candidate to block that of power.
The Communist Party is part of the so-called "systemic" opposition, the one controlled by the Kremlin.
Andrei Kolesnikov, researcher at the Carnegie Institute, strongly doubts that this party will emancipate itself from the tutelage of power after the elections. “
Parliament is just an imitation of an institution. It has been totally controlled by the Kremlin for years. So, yes, the Communists can occasionally create problems for power and show their independence, but I don't think it will go very far. They may attempt to be like the opposition, but only to a certain extent. There is a frame and red lines.
And then there is this precedent of 2019, recalls Andrei Kolesnikov, when the intelligent vote worked a little and that there were more elected Communists in the Moscow city council
“
all the decisions were taken by the mayor who never took elected officials into account.
As at the national level, it was the vertical of power.
It works like that in the Duma ”.
And he insists: “
I strongly doubt that the Communist Party is beyond the control of the Kremlin.
"
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