September 21, 2021

Bring Out the Chainsaw!


Bring Out the Chainsaw!
Local television station TVK Krasnoyarsk published a video of a man in their region destroying ballots with an ax. Youtube channel Телекомпания ТВК

Russia’s State Duma elections ended at 11 pm on Sunday, September 19. When closing the polls, law requires Russia's precinct election commissions to destroy unused ballots to prevent falsification.

The practice of ballot disposal involves cutting the corners off the lower left-hand sides of each ballot. A hole punch or paper perforator is most frequently used. However, large stacks of paper sometimes remain after the polls have closed, and staff can be eager to cut a few corners (literally and figuratively) as they wrap up operations.

To speed up the process, poll workers in Russia’s Leninsky District used a chainsaw. One gentleman in Krasnoyarsk yielded an axe, and a Yekaterinburg resident shredded edges with a circular saw to render ballots useless.

The run-up to Russia’s 2021 Duma elections spawned other funny moments, including an outbreak of candidate-clones and new election observance restrictions because elections, obviously, are not for “idle curiosity, for lying on the couch to watch some kind of movie.” 

Ballots were cast between Friday, September 17, and Sunday, September 19. On Sunday night, Russia’s TASS news agency reported preliminary results: the ruling United Russia party, associated with President Vladimir Putin, is leading the election with 43.7% of the votes. The Communist Party and the Liberal-Democratic Party followed at 22.6% and 8.6%, respectively.

 

 

You Might Also Like

The False Borises
  • July 30, 2021

The False Borises

Imitation is the highest form of flattery, especially when it comes to one's name on a ballot.
No Lazy Elections
  • July 21, 2021

No Lazy Elections

“Video surveillance – it is not idle curiosity, for lying on the couch to watch some kind of movie. There are theaters and television for that, but this [observance of elections] is major work. If you want [to observe elections], if you are interested, an active citizen, then you’re going to need to work a bit for it.” – Ella Pamfilova, head of Russia’s Central Election Committee, on election monitoring.
Sports, Sleep, and the State Duma
  • February 04, 2021

Sports, Sleep, and the State Duma

This week's Odder News features Russian athletes making international news, low-tax sports gear, and more opportunity for restful shut-eye.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.  
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 
Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.
Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955