IPA CIS observers held several meetings in Moscow during short-term monitoring of the presidential elections in the Russian Federation

The IPA CIS international observers met with the representatives of the electoral offices of the presidential candidate Vladimir Zhirinovskiy in Moscow: Member of the Committee of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on International Affairs Anton Morozov and First Deputy Chair of the Committee of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Security and Countering Corruption Dmitriy Saveliev.

They briefed on the work of the party and its regional branches, participation in the election commissions, electoral campaign in the mass media and the difficulties they face in the regions.

The IPA CIS Observer Team met with Chair of the Committee of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on International Affairs Konstantin Kosachev. He focused on the role of the international observers in the improvement of legislation and law enforcement practice.

He noted that the two chambers of the Federal Assembly had invited more than 500 international observers representing international institutions and legislative bodies of more than 60 countries. More than 1500 officially registered international observers will take part in the elections.

Coordinator of the Team Ziyafet Asgarov informed Konstantin Kosachev on the results of the long-term monitoring and passed to him a copy of the report and a legal conclusion on the compliance of the electoral legislation regulating the elections on 18 March 2018 with international democratic elections standards.

Ziyafet Asgarov also met with First Deputy Speaker of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Ivan Melnikov and expressed his gratitude for the invitation of the IPA CIS to participate in the monitoring of the elections.

The State Duma also hosted the meeting of the international observers with the member of the electoral office of Pavel Grudinin, First Deputy Chair of the Committee of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on International Affairs Dmitriy Novikov who told about the main features of the organization of electoral campaign of his candidate.

He assured that election campaign run smoothly without any legal violations. However, his party has some suggestions on how to improve the electoral legislation, plans to propose some amendments and will insist on their practical implementation.

For example, members of Pavel Grudinin’s office think that there is a need for to legally establish that chair, deputy chair and secretary of election commission of any level should represent three different political parties. A party which delegated its representative entitled to vote for a 5-year term should have a right to withdraw its representative before the expiry of the term in case of improper fulfilment of his duties. There is also a need to better regulate electoral debates including the preliminary discussion of the format of debates and observance by the moderator of the agreed rules of the discussion. In addition, candidates’ supporters who were not registered by the Central Election Commission as proxies of the candidates should not participate in the debates.

The IPA CIS observers also visited the Election Commission of Moscow and met with its Chair Valentin Gorbunov. They were informed on the organization of the elections in the biggest Russian megacity, the process of establishment of territorial and district commission and the technological upgrade of the polling stations.