2024-03-13 09:50:28
Telegram channel “Ostorojno, novosti” reports that at the end of last week, instructions on how to vote in the March 15-17 elections were distributed to workers at the Astrakhan natural gas processing plant. According to those instructions, when 5,000 employees of the plant come to the polling station, they will be sent an SMS containing a link that they must open. This link will locate their phone and notify company management that they have voted. Workers who did not receive SMS were instructed to scan the QR code given to them by the “man” at the polling station.
“GEO-SMS” project?
On March 7, Golos, an independent election monitoring group banned in Russia, reported that the ruling United Russia party was considering a project called GEO-SMS. The aim of the project is to monitor the participation of voters working in the public sector.
The article prepared by Andrey Grigoryev, an employee of RFE/RL’s “Idel.Realii” service, states that the use of geolocation programs to increase voter participation is an innovation applied in this year’s elections. Last month, the opposition politician Olka SidelnikovaThis can be clearly seen in a leaked document shared by Sidelnikova, who previously worked as the administrative head of the Lomonosov district of Moscow, now lives abroad. That document is said to be a presentation of the Kremlin’s election strategy in the Udmurtia region, which has a population of about 1.5 million people. Although Sidelnikova did not want to say how she got the document, she said that she had the original and did not doubt its authenticity.
Strategy for Putin’s regional election headquarters in Udmurtia
A political consultant from the Udmurtia region who currently lives abroad Sergey Antonov also said that he is sure that the 38-page presentation slides are real documents and that similar ones have been issued in all regions of Russia.
“Friday [martın 15-də], before 2 o’clock in the afternoon, all employees in the public sector should send a message to the server with their geolocation turned on. This is new technology. In every election, the system is improved a little”are Antonov’s words.
“This is their weak point”
Monitoring groups and Kremlin critics say that during Putin’s rule, elections have never been fair, with the government eyeing all its resources, from the police to the courts, election commissions, state media and local authorities. Moreover, the current election campaign, held against the backdrop of the complete marginalization of the opposition, which has been suppressed for years during Russia’s intervention in Ukraine, is considered the most uncompetitive national vote held during Putin’s 25-year rule.
It can be seen from the media reports and the speeches of the officials that the Kremlin will claim that 80-85 percent of votes will be given to Putin this time, and the voter turnout will be at least 70 percent. Analysts say Putin and his administration want to use the election to boost their legitimacy. This is why they are trying to create an image of mass public support for the government, the war against Ukraine, and the growing conflict with the West.
The structure of Putin’s election headquarters in Udmurtia
SidelnikovaAccording to , achieving a high participation rate has always been a weak point of the government.
“Despite the innovations that they implemented in recent years, such as the abolition of independent monitoring, the expansion of online voting and the control of election commissions at all levels, they still need people to come to the polling stations. Monitoring voter turnout is not easy. Roughly speaking, this is their weak point.– these are the words of Sidelnikova in her interview with Radio Liberty.
“There is no independent monitoring”
“People need to stand up and flock to the polling station. After getting the participation percentage, they can get the results their hearts desire. “There is no independent monitoring anyway, and the election commissions are under full control.”
It seems that the document obtained by Sidelnikova was submitted to Udmurtia officials before June of last year. So, at that time, the planning of the presidential elections was already underway. In the document, special attention was paid to the goal of increasing the participation level of 55 percent, which is traditionally recorded in Udmurtia, to 80 percent. Moreover, in addition to the geolocation program, there is also a call to mobilize voters through United Russia party branches, municipal administrations and local deputies. The document instructs municipal administrations to monitor voter participation through their representatives in precinct election commissions.
Tactics of the election campaign in Udmurtia
Antonov says that the “United Russia” party aims to increase the level of voter participation by taking advantage of administrative resources, mobilizing workers, holding various competitions and patriotic events. However, according to him, due to the lack of enthusiasm at the lower levels, the party is often unable to implement such plans: “When it comes to implementing such ideas, it turns out that there are people who do not really do anything in the local party cores, or people who are kept there because of repression.”
The leaked document details the Kremlin’s efforts to control public opinion, including efforts on social media. The document states that the Putin campaign will continue to monitor social media channels and discussion groups in order to control negative information and discredit opposition initiatives.
“With no choice, with only one candidate”
In the document, “filming and collecting useful content”, “working against any protest actions”, “creating and distributing content”, “memes, fakes, long texts, investigative films, etc. preparation and distribution” are also mentioned. The purpose of the “Cleaning” project mentioned in this document is to quickly remove all propaganda materials of the opposition from the Internet.
The government also created “regional people’s self-government organizations” from pro-government activists. He chose “independent election monitors” from among them.
Antonov calls the 4,500 monitors that the government plans to launch in the regions “pseudo-people’s pseudo-monitors”: “Their duty is not to allow any provocation or fraud. This means that they will always say that there was no violation. If they were to be interviewed, that’s what they would say. This is the instruction given to them. [2017-ci ilin sentyabrında] “They did not find a single violation in the election of the head of Udmurtia.”
“The election in Putin’s Russia has been brought to its logical ideal state and will be held in accordance with the rules of the USSR – without selection, with a single candidate,” Antonov said.
Freedom radio
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