On March 4, 2024, the Head of the CIS Observer Mission, Ilkhom Nematov, met with the Co-Chairman of the Staff, a confidant of the presidential candidate of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, Maryana Lysenko.
During the meeting, the course of the election campaign of the presidential elections in the Russian Federation, scheduled for March 15-17 this year, was discussed.
Mariana Anatolyevna Lysenko informed the Observer Mission about its meetings with voters on the ground and about the organization of the work of the Headquarters of the Presidential candidate of the Russian Federation as its co-chairman.
She noted that as of March 4, meetings with voters were held in 8 regions. According to her, communication is very lively everywhere. Voters come to the regional headquarters with words of support for the candidate. In addition, they raise social issues.
It is an obvious fact that voters in all regions where the meetings took place fully support the policy pursued by the candidate.
Albina Hajiyeva, a lawyer at the Headquarters, spoke about the procedure for monitoring voting on March 15, 16 and 17 at polling stations by the election Headquarters: “The Election Law provides an opportunity for candidates, parties and public chambers to appoint up to 3 observers to each precinct and territorial election commissions for each voting day. We are interested in having our observers present in all territorial and precinct election commissions, which are almost 97 thousand commissions. The presence of an observer at the polling station not only ensures the transparency and transparency of electoral procedures, but also increases public confidence, confirming the legality of the voting procedure and counting of votes.
Currently, the observer corps is being trained in all regions. Observers should understand the intricacies of electoral procedures as well as members of election commissions in order to fix violations of the law, but exclude unfounded claims against members of commissions.
The Headquarters will use all the opportunities provided by law to carry out continuous monitoring of the voting process at each polling station. We will insist on checking any situations at polling stations that may cast doubt on the objectivity and reliability of the results of the expression of the will of voters.”
In turn, Ilkhom Nematov spoke about the work carried out by the Headquarters of the CIS Observer Mission since its accreditation to the CEC of the Russian Federation on February 19 this year.
He noted that the work of the CIS Observer Mission has entered an active phase, meetings have already been held in the CEC and the Moscow City Election Commission, as well as the Russian Foreign Ministry.
“Registration with the CEC of international observers participating in monitoring the course of the election campaign and the voting process in the presidential elections of the Russian Federation ends today. The CIS observer mission sent 132 representatives of the CIS member States for accreditation. In addition, the Interparliamentary Assembly of the CIS member States submitted 59 observers from members of the parliaments of the countries and staff of the IPA CIS secretariat for accreditation. Thus, the total number of CIS observers for the upcoming presidential elections of the Russian Federation will be about 200 people,” Ilkhom Nematov said.
In accordance with the Convention on Democratic Elections, Electoral Rights and Freedoms in the CIS, the Mission monitors the electoral process based only on its own observations, without interfering in the course of elections and in the internal affairs of the State. “The Mission’s task is to collect complete and reliable information about the stages of the election campaign and, based on it, draw a conclusion about the compliance of the process of preparing and conducting elections with national legislation,” the Head of the CIS Observer Mission stressed.
