Oppositionists report ballot-stuffing at polling stations in Volgograd

Observers from oppositional parties told the "Caucasian Knot" about ballot-stuffing, falsifications during vote tabulation and threats of physical execution, which they fixed during the recent elections in Volgograd; they filed complaints about violations.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 9, residents of the Volgograd Region elected heads and deputies (members) of representative bodies of urban and rural swelling settlements.

Valery Kotelnikov, a member of the Constituency Election Commission (CoEC) No. 8, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on September 10 that at a polling station in Volgograd, "there was an obvious falsification of 120 votes."

He has added that he had already filed two complaints to the Territorial Election Commission (TEC) of the Dzerzhinsky District and two statements to the police about the falsification of the elections; but the complaints have not been considered yet."

The member of the CoEC also asserts that "ballot-stuffing took place at 70-80 percent of the polling stations."

Mark Baturlinsky, an observer, claims that he was offered a bribe of 10,000 roubles "just for him going out for 15 minutes" during the vote tabulation, and after he refused, "they threatened with physical violence."

Lyudmila Solovyova, the chair of the regional branch of the Green Alliance Party, has stated about the facts of ballot-stuffing at two stations in the Krasnooktiabrsky District. According to her estimate, the stuffing was of about 400 ballot papers at each polling station.

She said that she had already filed a complaint to the TEC and intends to submit a complaint to the Central Election Commission (CEC).

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 11, 2018 at 01:02 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.