CEC ANNULS ELECTIONS

Abstract

(By Yelizaveta Antonova. RBC Daily, April 21, 2016, p. 8. Condensed text:) The [Russian] ... Central Electoral Commission has ordered the Moscow Province Territorial [Electoral] Commission to invalidate the [village council] elections in Barvikha after irregularities in early voting were uncovered. They were previously reported by Barvikha candidates from Aleksei Navalny’s [Anticorruption] Fund [see article in this section, above]. ... On Wednesday [April 20], CEC members unanimously approved a draft regulation requiring the territorial electoral commission of Moscow Province’s Odintsovo District to immediately rescind a decision by the Barvikha Electoral Commission to call and hold elections and early voting for village council deputy posts, an RBC correspondent reported from the CEC meeting. . . . ... The elections were nullified because of irregularities, CEC chairwoman Ella Pamfillova explained on Wednesday. In particular, she said that the local electoral commission made the decision to call elections before a Moscow Province Court ruling dismissing the [previous] Barvikha council of deputies went into force. This means that early elections were called before they should have been. ... In addition, the reason for permitting voters to cast ballots early was invalid. For example, many people voted early because they would be out of town on election day. Early voting in Barvikha was widespread; it should be acknowledged that it is impossible to restore the violated electoral rights of citizens, and the campaign has violations that cannot be rectified, Pamfilova explained. ... Pamfilova stressed that this decision is unrelated to the stir that oppositionist Aleksei Navalny’s supporters have been raising on social media networks. . . . ... was not easy to decide to invalidate the elections in Barvikha, and the decision required compelling reasons, since the municipal [electoral] commission is autonomous from the CEC, Pamfilova said. This is a clear signal from the CEC to all [electoral] commissions that the CEC will not put up with any violations, commented CEC member Sergei Sirotkin. ... According to Golos [voter rights] movement cochairman Grigory Melkonyants, Pamfilova took such an unexpected step so that the Barvikha controversy is not used to discredit the CEC’s subsequent work and elections in general. ... It was apparently decided that if these elections took place, this stain would haunt future elections and affect the federal campaign. [The opposition] would bring up Barvikha just as they do [former CEC chairman Vladimir] Churov and the 146% [voter turnout in southern Rostov Province] reported on television [during the 2011 State Duma election], which he did not organize, he explained. The CEC did not want to bear political responsibility for the flagrant violations that took place in Moscow Province [i.e., Barvikha - Trans.], the expert said. ... Pamfilova has a certain amount of credibility, and it could easily be lost if not maintained, believes political analyst Aleksei Makarkin. That is exactly what the Navalny team focused on; however, Pamfilova made it clear that she differs fundamentally from Churov, [Makarkin] stressed. Moreover, Makarkin believes that electoral commissions at various levels were given a signal that such violations will not be tolerated during the September State Duma elections. . . .