A dissenting opinion of the Yabloko member of the St.Petersbrug Electoral Commission

Press Release, 9.07.2020

Olga Pokrovskaya, member of the St. Petersburg Electoral Commission with a casting vote from the Yabloko party and Chair of the Party Arbitration, refused to vote for approving the protocol of the St. Petersburg Electoral Commission on the results of voting in St. Petersburg at the All-Russian vote on the approval of Vladimir Putin’s amendments to the Constitution. Following the vote on amendements in St. Petersburg, Pokrovskaya as member of the City Electoral Commission attached her dissenting opinion to the protocol.

According to Olga Pokrovskaya, the very procedure for entry into force of amendments to the Constitution was of an unconstitutional nature, public sector employees were forced to vote. Many precinct electoral commissions violated the voting procedure established by the Central Electoral Commission, there were ample opportunities to overestimate the actual turnout data, but there were no opportunities for public control and the powers of members of electoral commissions were diminished during the voting.

Earlier, Yelena Mayatnikova, member of the Pskov Region Electoral Commission with a casting vote from Yabloko, managed to attach her dissenting opinion to the protocol following the results of the vote on constitutional amendments. In her opinion, the violations made during the voting do not allow to determine with confidence the results of the will of voters.