July 21, 2021

No Lazy Elections


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, the head of Russia's Central Election Committee

On June 16 Ella Pamfilova, the head of Russia’s Central Election Committee, explained how Russian citizens can participate in election observation going forward.

Russia’s Central Election Committee (CEC) has canceled live broadcasts from election polling stations, and Russian citizens will now be required to register to be an observer and undergo a training that will educate them about the electoral process. The elections are a serious business – and so is the Federation’s budget. Pamfilova stressed that the CEC cannot "throw billions of people's money into a virtual void just for the sake of the ambitions of a dozen and a half experts or for the sake of idle curiosity." In the past, volunteers have accessed the broadcasts to record election fraud.

 

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