Instead of changing just remote electronic voting, parliamentarians seem to be going to make much more serious changes to all electoral legislation.
According to the correspondent MorningNews, deputies of the State Duma approved in the second reading a bill that introduces a number of important changes to the country’s electoral system. Initially, it was assumed that it would affect only the organization of the work of remote electronic voting, but in the process of work it was decided to significantly expand it.
The legislative initiative itself, designed to systematize the work of the DEG, belongs to deputies Dmitry Vyatkin and Dmitry Lameikin from United Russia. Initially, the project involved the inclusion of a new provision in the framework law on guarantees of electoral rights, which would directly relate to voting on the Internet. It was adopted in the first reading on 26 January.
But already for the second reading, a lot of amendments were received, which one way or another can affect the entire electoral system of the country. In particular, an amendment about the impossibility of re-voting appeared in the draft. Previously, the same clause was used in the elections to the State Duma in Moscow in the fall of 2021, and at the insistence of the city authorities, headed by Mayor Sergei Sobyanin.
However, the amendment was not to everyone’s liking. For example, the head of the Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova, objects to it. At the same time, among other clarifying and supplementing points, there were more than 10 amendments that have nothing to do with electronic voting.
Among them is a ban on being elected in any elections for five years after the repayment of a criminal record for people convicted of extremist crimes (against the foundations of the constitutional order and state security). In addition, the rules for the participation in elections of candidates with the status of foreign agents, as well as persons associated with them, are systematized. For this, the Ministry of Justice will develop a special new register.
Other initiatives are the expansion of the territories of polling stations. That is, if now they cover no more than 3 thousand voters, then in the event of the final adoption of the law and these amendments, they will be able to cover a larger number of people. It is also proposed by law to leave members of election commissions with an advisory vote only in the Central Election Commission and regional commissions, and in TECs (territorial divisions) to replace them with observers.
The opposition strongly opposes these changes and intends to seek the repeal of the amendments. According to State Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Alexei Kurinny, such innovations may adversely affect the mechanisms for monitoring voting. In this sense, observers will not decide anything and will not be able to influence anything.
The politician recalled that in the past, members of the commission with the right to consultative vote had the right to get acquainted with the lists of voters, due to which it was possible to find violations and falsifications, and specific criminal cases were initiated. If the amendments are adopted, they will not have such opportunities.
As an alternative, the opinion of one of the initiators of the bill, Dmitry Vyatkin, is given. According to him, the law simply brings the rules of law to a real life situation, since, according to the parliamentarian, the members of the commission with the right to consultative vote were actually engaged in supervisory functions.
Here it is worth noting the acuteness of the topic of remote electronic voting. A number of opposition politicians from the same KPRF oppose this system as a whole, believing that it opens up many opportunities for manipulation. In addition, there are fears that people, especially from the public sector, will by hook or by crook incline precisely to electronic voting.
Allegedly, in this way it is easier to manipulate people, to persuade them to certain electoral strategies. There are serious questions about the verification of voters in such a vote. However, the world and Russian practice of recent years says that all this can be systematized and legalized to eliminate problematic situations. Apparently, the current work is aimed precisely at this.
Source: MorningNews