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On the final day of voting, observers once again faced obstacles to their work, commission members were removed from polling stations, party representatives were detained, and voters reported being put under pressure.
Impediments to observation and removals from polling stations
- In the Moscow region, observers and independent commission members are being removed through the courts. In Dolgoprudny, there have been new reports of people being barred from polling stations, and at one station, there were suspicions of ballot stuffing.
- In Shchyolkovo, the head of the commission claimed that observers were supposedly forbidden from moving around the polling station. Even the police officer present disagreed with her.
- In Perm, a major city in the Urals, observers are being pushed back tens of metres from the vote count.
- In St Petersburg, an independent commission member was removed from the polling station, accused of attempting to steal a seal and of physical aggression. Another commission member was suspended via the courts: they were accused of filming at the polling station and of campaigning for Yabloko.
- In Moscow, observers are also reporting pressure. One was threatened with the police after insisting that anyone wishing to receive a paper ballot should be given one.
Detentions and fines
- An observer for Yabloko who was detained the day before in St Petersburg has been fined for failing to obey a police officer.
- In Izhevsk, a city in the Urals, three Communist Party representatives were taken away directly from the polling stations to the police.
- In Bashkortostan, an observer who had been recalled by the Communists themselves was fined after refusing to leave the polling station.
- The press secretary of Chelyabinsk Yabloko was held in a police station for several hours, then released without a report, after police said it was a case of “mistaken identity.”
Pressure on voters
- A teacher at a Moscow school said that staff were made to report they had voted. According to her, colleagues were warned: “You’ll be summoned to the headteacher or deputies if you don’t vote.”
- In Innopolis, an anonymous Telegram channel threatened to “force to the floor” anyone who came to the polling station with apples. This seems to have targeted Yabloko supporters.
Restricted access to polling stations
In Moscow, law enforcement let people through to several polling stations one at a time. This resulted in queues at the entrance, even though journalists said it was quiet inside.