No pressure and stuffing: Russia prepares to vote on amendments to the Constitution

Online voting for amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation kicks off June 25. Applications for participation in distance will filed more than 1.2 million residents of Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod region, about 70 thousand voted early. Track all stages of the vote will be hundreds of observers. The CEC believe that the procedure will be transparent and legitimate.

No pressure: the CEC intends to exclude any possibility of the voters to impose any decision and promises to ensure the safety of ballots, is going to vote.

“In the presence of observers, all ballots are placed from portable or stationary ballot boxes in the safe-packets, – said the CEC head, Ella Pamfilova. – When you move the papers in the package, nobody is allowed to touch the ballots by hand. This package must then seal, affix it signature.”

the Premises of precinct election commissions will be guarded by police and Asgardia.

the CEC is actively preparing for 1 July. On this wall the results will appear for each region, and the voting starts the day after tomorrow. Newsletters – only 108-a-half million have already been printed and delivered to polling stations. Russian civil society intends to monitor the voting carefully: registered more than 350 thousand observers.

“the Number of people we have is increasing every day. We have somewhere a day or two… we go through the regions observers. We see it somewhere within a day in Moscow, – said the head of the working group of the RF Public chamber on public control over the voting Maxim Grigoriev. And we see an unprecedented number of our observers… That is people are willing in the areas all the time.”

Monitor the training and in the Public chamber and the Council under the President of Russia on development of civil society and human rights very seriously in the state Duma. Of the four Duma factions against the amendments is configured onlyabout one. Unexpected position of the Communists, who usually act in defense of social guarantees, surprised colleagues from the liberal democratic party.

“What amendments they don’t like? This is scary! The indexation of pensions, the minimum wage. That is what they have always offered, is in the amendments – because they are against all this” – said the leader of LDPR Vladimir Zhirinovsky.

meanwhile closely watching the voting, not only in our country but also from abroad. And, apparently, ready to intervene. Today in the Network appeared the documents, clearly indicating the preparation of provocations and attempts to bring people to the streets to discredit the outcome. Developed a media campaign with a familiar Arsenal of tools – banners and cartoons on the Internet.

In the correspondence, which fell into the hands of journalists, the organizers of stuffing discussing different ideas. For example, to place in the Network a series of videos about the alleged failures of government. Behind the attempt to discredit the organization “Open Russia” and the so-called “School of local self-government.” According to journalists, its activists have been trained in the USA, from there they receive guidance, and financial support. The documents confirm contact with two American funds. Monthly funding – more than 20 thousand dollars. But it seems to be a progress report and receipts about cash advance. Funds received from different sources – from Polish NGOs for the organization of training opposition MPs and from the Russian mission one of the German funds.

But public opinion in Russia such campaigns to influence will not have time. The closer the vote, the higher the interest. Started a hot line, organized by the holding VGTRK together with “Komsomolskaya Pravda”. Thousands of calls. Answer the questions politicians and public figures.

– Indexation of pensions, it says, regularly or annually?

– meaning that if payments towhich are recalculated every year, in particular, pensions will be annually and reviewed – answering a question from co-chair of the working group on preparation of proposals on introducing amendments to the Constitution Andrey Klishas.

the growing interest in the upcoming vote and say experts of the Institute for social research. A positive attitude to the amendments, according to them, Express to 70 percent of Russians. This is confirmed by the all-Russia centre of studying of public opinion (VTSIOM). More than 70 percent of respondents reported willingness to vote and almost 54 percent definitely going to go to the polling stations. For the amendments, according to sociologists, will speak almost two-thirds of Russians.

In remote places, the voting has already begun – for example, in the remote villages of Chukotka, on the Bering sea, and in the upper reaches of the Yenisei river.