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 […]
Unlevel playing field in regional and local elections
Image source: news.sky.com The regional and local elections scheduled on 13 September 2020 are to be the first major electoral campaign in Russia to take place following the passing of the Constitutional amendments and the introduction of the epidemiological restrictions. A total of 9071 campaigns are taking place incl. State Duma by-elections in four […]
Far-right MEP resigns from EU Endowment for Democracy
Kalesnikava, Znak and Salei are new political prisoners
Image source: gazetaby.com On September 9, the authorities arrested Maryia Kalesnikava, a member of the presidium of the Coordination Council for Resolving the Political Crisis, lawyer Maksim Znak and lawyer Illia Salei. Their apartments were searched and the detainees were taken to the Investigative Committee for questioning. On September 7, Maryia Kalesnikava was abducted by unknown persons in […]
Call to reconsider allocating a seat in the EED Board to the far-right political group in the European Parliament
Image source: euneighbours.eu Letter by CSOs to the EED’s Board of Governors, President of the European Parliament, Presidents of political groups of the European Parliament We are deeply concerned with the decision of the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament to offer a seat on the Board of Governors of the European Endowment for […]
1st observation mission report of pre-election period
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Political context. The Republic of Moldova is a parliamentary republic, but the President of the state is elected by universal suffrage. Even if the powers of the President of the Republic of Moldova are limited, the competition for this position has a high potential to mobilize the electorate. The pre-election period has been marked by […]
1. Interim observation mission report
Opora issued their first interim report of the pre-election campaign period for the local elections. Officially, election campaigning began 05 September, however, political parties, their local organizations, and potential candidates de facto already launched their active campaigning in August. This stage of early campaigning is unregulated by any electoral legal framework and there are no […]