Observers report the threat of violations in Irkutsk: Here is the most fierce election fight in the Russian Federation
The election race is coming to an end in the Irkutsk region: according to experts, the struggle of candidates in the Angara region turned out to be perhaps the most fierce in the whole of Russia. Deputies from the Czech Republic, Greece and Bulgaria, who arrived in Irkutsk as observers, announced the threat of violations. Subsequently, European politicians will prepare and publish a report based on the results of monitoring the elections in the Irkutsk region.
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The Irkutsk region is the only region of the Russian Federation where a year ago, as a result of fierce competition, the communist Sergei Levchenko won the gubernatorial election. The results of the current campaign to the State Duma also remain intriguing, noted political scientist Oleg Bondarenko, director of the Progressive Policy Foundation, at a round table in Irkutsk.
“There is a real struggle taking place in Irkutsk – unlike most Russian regions, where the winners are predetermined. Until the last moment there was a tough confrontation here. We’ll see how it ends on Monday,” the expert said.
“In the Irkutsk region there is a very tough competition with the use of the widest range of black technologies. We can expect vote buying. A year ago, this was tried on in remote districts. Unfortunately, this is the practice of the 90s that has not gone away,” Bondarenko added, naming the Taishet, Nizhneudinsky and Zalarinsky districts as the most problematic.
Member of the Czech Parliament from the Communist Party Vaclav Snopek expressed concern about signals about possible violations that observers are already receiving. The parliamentarian demonstrated the letter he had received, which provided data on possible bribery of voters in the 93rd constituency in the Irkutsk region.
“Young people, on behalf of the A Just Russia party, enter into an agreement on campaigning services in rented premises. Everything seems to be legal. However, in practice, citizens do not need to conduct any campaigning - they just need to come and vote for this side. In return they receive money - that’s the kind of business. This is very important information, the letter is in my hands, the election commission already knows this data,” Snopek said.
The parliamentarian will today hand over a copy of the received letter to the head of the Central Election Commission of the Irkutsk region, Eduard Devitsky.
The Czech deputy noted that he had previously encountered violations related to bribery of voters during elections. “In the Czech Republic, voters are being bribed before elections. There were many such incidents in several cities,” says Snopek.
Member of the European Parliament from Bulgaria Momchil Nekov (Socialist Party faction) also stated that the problem of illegal “encouragement” of voters is typical for his country.
“Members of my party proposed withdrawing sanctions against Russia. That's why I'm here as an international observer. I want to see the election process. But voter bribery is a problem for Bulgaria too. For example, we were found to have bought votes for 25 euros,” the politician said at the round table.
Member of the Greek Parliament from the Communist Party Stavros Nassos believes that in Russia, as in his homeland, there is a struggle between opponents and lobbyists for maintaining capitalist clans in power.
“The political system does everything to protect the existing value system – capitalist profit. We cannot say that Greece has a problem with direct bribery. Rather, we have more of a brainwashing problem,” says the Greek MP.
Irkutsk political strategist Vladislav Shindyaev clarified that bribery is often formalized in such a way that, from the point of view of the law, everything seems to be happening legally.
“Recently, a competition for video clips was announced for the elections, and 3 prizes were promised for the best video - 10, 20 and 30 thousand rubles. Is this bribery? Formally, no. Because the proposal was made by a third party in the interests of the candidates. And there are many such incidents,” the expert said.
His colleague Sergei Shmidt said that often the plans of the organizers of bribing voters turn into complete failure for the customers. “We already know cases when a person takes money to buy votes, and then can come to a competing headquarters and reset the situation,” he gave an example.
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