In Voronezh, Several Hundred Observers from the Parliamentary Opposition Were Barred from the Election over “Flaws in the Documents”

In Voronezh, several hundred observers from the parliamentary opposition were barred from the election over “flaws in the documents”

The State Duma elections in Voronezh and a number of the region’s large municipalities will take place without observers from the parliamentary parties that are in opposition to United Russia, two sources in the electoral system and a source in the leadership of one parliamentary party told “Vyorstka.”

According to them, city election commissions refused to admit about 400 observers from the Communist Party alone, citing “flaws in the documents.”

“As a result, not a single opposition observer has been admitted in the entire city. There were zero people at the ‘early vote,’ meaning absolutely no one. And on the main days, from September 18 to 20, only United Russia members and observers from the Public Chamber will be observing in the city,” a representative of the Russian electoral system told “Vyorstka.”

According to the sources, in the end, only observers from United Russia and the regional Public Chamber will be officially able to observe the elections. Officials are recruiting the latter as part of an “independent public monitoring” project that has been run for the sixth year by the domestic politics bloc of the presidential administration.

“Our elections have become so transparent that you can’t even see them,” a source in the regional electoral system told “Vyorstka.”

On September 16, the bureau of the Communist Party’s regional committee published an official statement complaining about “refusals under fabricated pretexts to register observers” in Voronezh, as well as in the Gribanovsky and Rossoshansky districts of the region.

“A whole number of election commission heads are trying to ensure legitimacy by absolutely illegitimate methods,” the statement says.

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