Press Release, 11.09.2022

Photo: Voting at the clothing market instead of voting at home in Novorzhev, Pskov region / Photo from social networks

In the regions where Yabloko participates in the elections, our observers record violations.

A provocation against Yabloko was carried out in the Pskov region. A local news agency reported that the party was allegedly engaged in buying votes in elections in Pskov. As a “confirmation” the news agency was presented a screenshot of the correspondence of two unidentified persons. The Pskov branch of Yabloko does not have a candidate with the surname that appears in the screenshot. Interestingly, it is similar to the name of a candidate for the Pskov City Duma nominated by the New People party. Lev Shlosberg, Chairman of the Pskov Yabloko, will send a statement to the police with a request that the media should provide the evidence of what was published and attach them to the materials of the check, which was previously launched on the basis of the statement of a Yabloko campaigner, whom a representative of the New People party attempted to bribe.

In Novorzhev, voters voted at the clothing market. It happened during “voting at home”. Another “voting at home” took place in the bookstore.

In the village of Solovyi, a protocol on interference in the work of the electoral commission was issued against an authorised campaigner of a Yabloko candidate, as he attempted to film what was happening at the polling statio. In the morning, a representative of Yabloko, Daniil Yanturaev, filed a notice about the photo and video shooting. Then the Chairman of the Electoral Commission of the Pskov Region, Igor Sopov, personally arrived at the polling station, and, according to the Chairman of the commission, took the notice away with him. According to the current electoral legislation, he did not have the right to do this, since he was not a member of the electoral commission. After that, the police arrived at the polling station and suggested that all members of the commission write a statement against the representative of Yabloko.

There was also an attempt to intimidate an observer from Yabloko in the village of Veska. The secretary of the Electoral Commission of the Pskov region, Sergei Kovalchuk, told Yabloko observer Alexei Nikolayev that if he filmed security bags with ballots, the chairman of the electoral commission would turn to a police officer and further he would be detained under Article 19.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (disobeying to the lawful order of a police officer).

In the Pustoshkinsky district of the Pskov region, violations were recorded during voting at home. In the village of Gultyai, the register of voting at home was compiled not on the basis of the voters’ requests, but on the basis of a list of unknown origin. The people included in the register do not know that they had applied at vote at home and come to vote at the polling station. Some voters, who are visited at home without being asked, refuse to vote. However, the chairwoman of the electoral commission refused to accept a complaint about all these violations from an authorised representative of the Yabloko party.

Elections in the Rostov-on-Don region are also taking place with egregious violations and gross fraud. In Rostov-on-Don, the team of Vladimir Beradze, Yabloko candidate in the by-elections to the city Duma, recorded a violation of the integrity of the seals on safes and security bags with ballots, as well as on voter books at several polling stations.

Photo: Traces of a ruptured safe seal at polling station No. 2029 in Rostov-on-Don. Photo from social media

At night, observers from the Yabloko candidate filmed a group of people looking like electoral commission members who were leaving the school premises where polling station No. 2029 is located. The fact that the commission members were at the polling station at night can explain the violation of the integrity of the seals. The police officers who were called on the site, suggested that “school teachers were leaving the building at night”. The safe was re-sealed, and fingerprints were taken from its surface.

In the Voronezh region, where by-elections to the Council of People’s Deputies of the Volensky rural settlement of Novousmansky district are being held, a team of observers from Yabloko is working with the participation of civil activist, Yabloko member Pavel Sychyov. Employees of the Centre for Combating Extremism came to “visit” Yabloko observers at polling stations. According to Sychyov, the officers were looking for pro-Ukrainian symbols which the observers allegedly had.