Foreign agents’ law prohibits citizen observation of elections
EPDE STATEMENT: “Foreign agents” law and its impact on independent citizen election observation in the Russian Federation ahead of the September 2021 State Duma election. On the eve of the federal parliamentary election campaign, the Russian State Duma hastily passes a whole package of repressive laws aimed at restricting Russian citizens’ participation in political and […]
Foreign agents law expanded ahead of 2021 State Duma election
Interior of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, January 20, 2017. Source: hrw.org (Reuters) With each national election in Russia, the presidential administration develops a strategy for achieving the Kremlin’s electoral goals. One element of the strategy for the 2021 State Duma elections that became obvious early on, is to allow a large […]
Foreign agents law expanded ahead of 2021 State Duma election
Recently passed amendments to the ‘foreign agents’ law in Russia increases the number of organizations at risk of being labelled as ‘foreign agents’ and would force election candidates who received funding or other resources from an organization or person registered as a ‘foreign agent’ to also label themselves as a ‘foreign agent’. There is serious […]
International experts’ endorsed controversial all-Russian voting on constitutional amendments
French far-right MEP Julie Lechanteux giving an interview to the Russian TV, with Johan Bäckman in the background. Source: Twitter account Lechanteux The “all-Russian voting” on President Putin’s proposed constitutional amendments, which would allow him to stay in power until 2036, was held between 25 June and 1 Jul 2020. Since the “all-Russian voting” […]
Trend against established parties. Candidates under undue pressure.
Image source: dw.com Last weekend’s regional and local elections in Russia represented a final rehearsal ahead of next year’s federal parliamentary elections. This was also the last election to be managed by the acting composition of the Russian Central Election Commission (CEC) and its chairperson, Ella Pamfilova, whose term in office is to expire […]
Election Alert #6 – Trend against established parties. Candidates under undue pressure.
Last weekend’s regional and local elections in Russia represented a final rehearsal ahead of next year’s federal parliamentary elections. This was also the last election to be managed by the acting composition of the Russian Central Election Commission (CEC) and its chairperson, Ella Pamfilova, whose term in office is to expire in March next year. […]
Pre-election campaign Russia Single Voting Day 2020
During the election campaign period, a level playing field for candidates has not been secured. Candidates who were supported by the authorities could also count on support from local authorities, courts, and electoral authorities and often did not have to face the restrictions associated with the Covid 19 pandemic when conducting their campaigns. State controlled […]
Legal aspects of the 13th September Russian Single Voting Day 2020
Analyzing the legal framework of the elections, domestic election experts conclude that the current legal conditions are the worst in the last 25 years. Recent changes to the electoral law on the federal level as well as short-term amendments to the regional election campaign regulations have been introduced to further restrict the electoral rights of […]
Summary of the nomination and registration of candidates for the 13th September 2020 elections
The analysis of the process of candidates’ registration in self-government elections shows an unproportionally high dropout rate of opposition candidates. In the main elections to regional parliaments and councils, parties supported by the authorities could nominate 98 % of their candidates, self-nominated candidates could register in over 60 % of cases, and parties without „administrative […]
Briefly about the course of the candidate registration SVD 2020
The main features of the 18 gubernatorial races held on the Single Voting Day were the restricted access for opposition candidates to the elections and the replacement of promising candidates by “technical” sparring-partners nominated by new “technical” parties which have been created with strong support of the authorities. Even candidates of parliamentary parties were massively […]