In the elections to the Chelyabinsk City Duma, mass stuffing was recorded, and the regional election committee classified data on turnout

Hartung is predicted to fall into political oblivion if he refuses attempts to revise the results

In the Chelyabinsk region, the “most boring” gubernatorial campaign in recent years, according to experts, and the “dirtiest” elections to the City Duma of the capital of the Southern Urals have ended. And while the “United Russia” members, led by Alexei Texler, are celebrating a “triumphant victory”, and the regional election commission announces a turnout of almost 50%, the participants themselves draw attention to a number of points that, in their opinion, indicate the presence of major violations that may become the basis for not only to cancel the election results in a number of territories, but also to initiate criminal cases. Thus, many noticed that the Chelyabinsk region was the last of the regions of the Russian Federation where elections were held to release data on turnout: they appeared only after noon the next day, while all of them released figures on the evening of September 8. They decided not to count the percentage of voters in Chelyabinsk at all, apparently, because the final figure turned out to be less than even the critical 30% indicated by Moscow. At the same time, observers from opponents of United Russia claim that the number of ballots thrown into ballot boxes at a number of precinct election commissions was several times less than the numbers that appeared in the final protocols. In this situation, political scientists declare an extremely low level of residents’ trust in the current government, despite the seemingly quite tolerable final figures.

Alexey Teksler’s “triumphant victory” over rivals who did not actually campaign in the elections for governor of the Chelyabinsk region, according to observers, was undermined by a number of circumstances. The publication’s interlocutors in political circles drew attention to the fact that the region was the only one that provided information about the final voter turnout only after noon the next day, although on September 7 and 8, turnout data was promptly updated by a certain hour.
“Then, apparently, something went wrong,” say interlocutors in political circles. Thus, at 18:00 the voter turnout in the elections for the head of the region was 41.87%, and after 20:00 the election commission unofficially spoke about about 42% of voters. Nevertheless, in the first hour of the day on September 9, the regional election commission reported a turnout of 48.96%.

When asked about the turnout in Chelyabinsk, where city duma deputies were also elected last weekend, the press service of the regional election commission replied that it “was not counted separately after 18:00.” It is only known that according to the results of the first day, less than 17% took part in the elections, and by 18:00 of the second, in all districts except Metallurgical, less than 30% of voters had voted. In the Kurchatovsky and Tsentralny districts, the number of voters was slightly more than 20%, but the Metallurgical District at that moment, according to local media, already showed a turnout of 46.65%.

However, according to observers, these figures were not achieved due to the civic activity of the population.

“There were two observers at my site, we sat and counted everyone who entered the site. The result was 324 people, including 11 homeworkers. We were always present: when one went to lunch, the other counted. Nobody approached the ballot boxes. However, when the counting began, there were 897 ballots. Where another 573 came from is absolutely unclear. These 500-600 people appeared out of nowhere at every polling station of ChMP, except for a few,” – said an observer from A Just Russia who worked at PEC No. 684.

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According to the observer, additional ballots could have been produced and hidden in a safe on the night from Saturday to Sunday. “They tried to get us out of the polling station several times and offered to take part in home-based voting. But only one observer out of two always left. When asked where the 573 votes came from, PEC members replied that we were apparently distracted or blinked. I could not call the police and record this violation: the fact that I considered every ballot thrown into the ballot box was just my words,” the agency’s interlocutor commented.

Ex-deputy of the Chelyabinsk City Duma from “A Just Russia” Vladimir Kornev, who, according to the “GAS Elections” system, in his polling station in the Metallurgical District scored 2,174 votes against 12,420 thousand from Alexey Chetvernin from “United Russia”, said that in each “400-500 votes were thrown into his PEC.”

“Our observer was not allowed to the table where the votes were being counted for 10 minutes. During this time, a package was brought there. Members of the commission allegedly collected votes on houses in the Airport village that were demolished. We will deal with every violation, contact the Ministry of Internal Affairs and cancel the election results. I filed complaints with the TEC of the Metallurgical District,” – said Vladimir Kornev.

“Fair Russia” Alexander Galkinwho was elected in the Kurchatovsky district, managed to record several violations and, according to his headquarters, prevent stuffing. As a result, he won a victory in his district. But his party comrade from the Leninsky district Alexander Gramachkov unlucky: him and United Russia Vitaly Rodionov separated by only 7 votes. At the same time, the press service of the regional branch of A Just Russia stated that they would not try to challenge the election results in the Gramachkov district in court, although, according to observers, a recount of votes could affect the result.

“The leader of the SR in the region, Valery Hartung, judging by his comments, is depressed, accusing residents of passivity. The election results have not yet been officially announced, but it is known that the party will probably receive only 3 seats in the Chelyabinsk City Duma – two in the districts and one on the list. Partly, Hartung’s fixation on the elections in Korkino, where he is at war with the head of Natalya Loshchinina, played a role. There was only one mandate at stake there, but he went there himself several times and even took his colleague in the State Duma of the Russian Federation, Yana Lantratova,” – one of the candidates commented.

By the way, A Just Russia also lost the elections in the Korkinsky municipal district. There, the mandate in the by-elections went to United Russia Nikolay Golubkovwho received 757 votes, and for the candidate from SR Natalia Ruskina 179 people voted.

The results of voting in the Chelyabinsk City Duma in a single electoral district, we recall, are as follows: 54.15% for United Russia, 17.3% for A Just Russia, 12.25% for the Liberal Democratic Party, 7.44% for among the “New People”, 6.38% – among the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. In this situation, it is not entirely clear why United Russia sources predict 8 mandates, and the rest of the parties – one each.

“The existing scheme for distributing mandates is extremely biased and disproportionate. Parties that score 5% receive one mandate, and one mandate goes to a party that scores more than 17℅. The scheme works in the interests of parties that receive the minimum passing percentage and the maximum. In fact, “A Just Russia” finds itself in the most disadvantaged situation,” – commented the ZSO deputy Vasily Shvetsov.

A list deputy of the City Duma from the SR will probably become Alexander Gramachkovwho showed the best result among the “Socialist Revolutionary” candidates who lost the elections.

In the regional branch of the LDPR, where they are quite satisfied with the election results, despite the lack of mandates in the districts, the name of the future city Duma deputy is not mentioned.

Interlocutors in the party suggest that the mandate will go to the director of the boxing sports training center in the Chelyabinsk region Anton Kudinovwhich is in a passable place on the list. With a high degree of probability, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation will be represented in the City Duma Eldar Gilmutdinovwho took third place in the gubernatorial elections and fourth in his constituency No. 2. “New People” can go to the City Duma Denis Lezin. However, the party has not yet made a final decision.

Today, the main intrigue remains who will get the list mandates from the United Russia, after they are abandoned by the “locomotives” and candidates who secured passage places for themselves, but were not agreed upon by the regional political bloc, such as Andrey Shmidt And Vladimir Bodrov. They are currently being negotiated.

“A “new reality” has arrived in the Chelyabinsk region, in which they are not afraid to rewrite the election results, because there are no independent observers, and the Administration, which is busy with other problems, does not correct them. The same Hartung, where there is a convincing invoice, should, through parliamentary requests, seek to initiate criminal cases of falsification as soon as possible, until the documents are destroyed. If he doesn’t answer in any way, next year the party will not receive mandates from the ZSO, and in a couple of years he himself will not be able to be elected to the State Duma,” – says one of the technologists who worked in the elections.

Valery Hartung in the Kurchatovsky district of Chelyabinsk and the winning candidate Alexander Galkin

According to the political scientist Alexandra Podoprigoryelections to the Chelyabinsk City Duma showed that the party in power in the regional center is actually supported by about 17.6%, given that 153,981 out of 857,605 registered voters voted for United Russia.

“This takes into account the fake figures of home and remote voting. It is these 17.6%, and not at all the “victorious” 54.15% “of those who came to the polling stations” with a meager turnout of about 28%, that is the real result of all the incredible administrative efforts of the authorities and the directorate, insanely expensive propaganda, a wild amount of tricks, pressure and fraud. And also the real price of the authority of regional and city authorities, the real level of trust of the population in them,” – commented political scientist Alexander Podoprigora.

James “Jim” Walters

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