CIS Observers: Elections to State Duma Held in Accordance With Legislation and International Standards

On 20 September 2021, the final press conference of the CIS Observer Mission at the elections to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation took place.

During the press conference, Head of the CIS Observer Mission, Deputy Chair of the CIS Executive Committee Ilkhom Nematov said that the CIS Observers visited 623 polling stations. At the same time, Ilkhom Nematov positively assessed such features of the elections as three-days-voting and the use of remote e-voting in seven regions of Russia.

IPA CIS Observer Team Coordinator, Deputy Speaker of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan Askar Shakirov informed the journalists that the Observer Team included representatives of parliaments from seven Member Nations of the IPA CIS. From 17 to 19 September 2021, they held meetings with the leadership of the Federation Council, the State Duma, the Central Election Commission, the Civic Chamber, as well as the party leaders. During the monitoring, the IPA CIS observers visited 167 polling stations and observed elections not only in Russia, but also at polling stations abroad. At the same time, as Askar Shakirov specified, the observers observed all stages of voting, from the opening of polling stations to counting votes and summing up the results.

According to Askar Shakirov, observers noted a high voter turnout and were pleasantly surprised by the completeness of the visual information about the candidates presented at the polling stations. In general, the IPA CIS observers concluded that the elections were held at a high organizational level and in compliance with the constitutional rights of all participants of the electoral process.