The Russian Federation held elections for deputies of the State Duma VIII convocation from 17 to 19 September. Representatives of 14 political parties fought for a place “under the sun”.
newsae.ru
Who was involved?
Of the 15 parties, only 14 were able to vote. These are the “Civic Platform”, “United Russia”, “Green Alternative”, “Greens”, “CPRF”, “Communists of Russia”, “LDPR”, “New People”, “Party of Growth”, “Motherland”, “Russian Party of Pensioners for Social Justice”, “Russian Party of Freedom and Justice”, “Fair Russia for Truth” and “Apple”. The remaining parties that wanted to participate in the elections were to receive at least 200,000 signatures in their support.The party “Russian National Union” tried to do so, but was refused registration. More than 2,000 candidates contested the elections in 225 single-member constituencies. The Russian Federation has a mixed electoral system: 225 deputies are elected from party lists and 225 from single-member constituencies in one round.
Irregularities and preliminary results
“During the three-day voting period, the anti-feature detachments of the “Young Guard of the United Russia” watched about 50,000 news on various information resources, from which 5,125 reports of possible violations were found”, — The President of the MGER Coordinating Council, Denis Davydov, commented on reports of multiple electoral irregularities.
During and before the elections about 19 thousand allegations of violations were received. The “Young Guard of the United Russia” trained four thousand activists to detect violations. According to Dmitry Reut, deputy chairman of the Moscow City Election Commission, the system of Moscow election commissions did not succumb to provocation and fakes during all three days of voting, having stood them with dignity.
the first place in the elections was taken by “United Russia”, then “KPRF”, “New People”, “LDPR” and “Just Russia for the Truth”.
EU response
But the EU leadership did not appreciate the way the Duma elections in Russia were held. The EU believes that the elections took place “in an atmosphere of intimidation of independent critics” and without proper international observation. Russia, on the other hand, declared these accusations “unfounded”.
“In Russia, the 2021 elections to the State Duma were monitored by 245 international observers from 59 countries, 10 international organizations and 57 diplomats from diplomatic missions accredited in Moscow. And this is what the EU calls “insufficient!” — commented Maria Zakharova.
