Press Release, 16.04.2018

On April 14, the Nizhny Novgorod regional branch of the Yabloko party together with the Golos movement (a movement of independent election observers), held the First Congress of Independent Observers in Nizhny Novgorod.

Maria Garays from the Golos movement presented a report on the electoral situation in the Nizhny Novgorod region. Garays spoke about the key problems and violations that public observers face when participating in elections in the region.

The report indicated that one of the main problems was that over 50 per cent of electoral commissions consisted of municipal employees or employees of municipal institutions. According to Garays, such a composition of electoral commissions makes them vulnerable to administrative pressure.

Alexei Sadomovsky, Deputy Chairman of the Nizhny Novgorod branch of Yabloko, proposed in his turn to solve the problem by sending to the electoral commissions more people interested in the electoral process.

“The Yabloko party is ready to send all citizens of democratic views to the precinct electoral commissions,” he said. “If we as people who want to live in a country where elections are conducted fairly and laws are observed, do not engage in organising elections, then nothing will change. We should not sit and wait that suddenly fair elections emerge in our country out of nowhere, we must do them. It will not work without you!” Sadomovsky stressed.

Yevgeny Dolgopolov, member of Electoral Commission No 2414, shared his experience of working in the commission. He spoke about what potential electoral commission members should be prepared for when submitting their candidacies to the commission, what problems they would face and also shared useful advice.

Over 70 people who expressed a desire to work in electoral commissions gathered at the congress. It should be also noted that Svetlana Cheremina, member of the Electoral Commission of the Nizhny Novgorod region, participated in the congress.

In May, new precinct electoral commissions will be formed, their term of office will be five years.