How To Rig An Election

[Zomi for Federalization and Democratization of Burma]

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Here is another story of how to rig an election, in Russian Federation
under the Brutal Russian Orthodox Fascist Vladimir Putin.

The Brutal Bamar Buddhist Fascist Government of Nga Thein Sein has ben
trying to rig the by-election again.

There can never be a free and fair election held under the Brutal
Bamar Buddhist Fascist Government.
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About This Blog
The Power Vertical is a blog written especially for Russia wonks and
obsessive Kremlin watchers by Brian Whitmore <whit...@rferl.org>. It
covers emerging and developing trends in Russian politics, shining a
spotlight on the high-stakes power struggles, machinations, and
clashing interests that shape Kremlin policy today. Check out The
Power Vertical Facebook page <http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Power-
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The Power Vertical

How To Rig An Election


Protesters gather behind a banner reading "Honest Elections" during a
demonstration in Moscow on February 4.


February 09, 2012
The order has gone out to electoral officials to secure a first-round
victory for Vladimir Putin in the upcoming presidential election and
video cameras in polling stations won't do much to prevent the fraud.

These are two of the main takeaways from a video released <http://
newsru.com/russia/09feb2012/elementarno.html> on Wednesday in which
Irina Kolpakova, an electoral commission official in charge of a
polling station in Samara, recounts in detail how the authorities
sought to falsify results in December's parliamentary elections -- and
plan to do so again in the presidential vote on March 4.

WATCH IT HERE:


In the video, Kolpakova says at her polling station the Communist
Party won 356 votes followed by the ruling United Russia party with
232 and Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democrats with 214. After
submitting the results, she was told by local officials that United
Russia's numbers needed to be revised upward.

"There was an attempt to influence these results, to get me to alter
them, but I refused," Kolpakova said.

She said she was summoned by local officials to a district
administration building together with other heads of polling stations
whose results were not favorable to United Russia and where the
numbers needed to be altered.

"The meeting didn't end in the way they expected because I simply
could not do what they wanted," she said.

Kolpakova's little rebellion was not without its cost. She has been
barred from working on the March 4 presidential election. And she
doesn't exclude further reprisals for going public with her
experience. "I understand that I am taking a risk by doing this," she
said.

Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov <http://polit.ru/news/2012/02/09/
peskov/>, dismissed her allegations as incomprehensible and "a
provocation."

Kolpakova's experience provides a rare glimpse into the mechanics of
how vote rigging takes place in Russia -- behind closed doors in
government buildings far from the peering eyes of the electoral
observers who monitor the count at polling stations.

Like the widely circulated videos of so-called "carousel voting"
<http://www.rferl.org/content/
russia_voter_fraud_youtube_video_carousel_voting/24411464.html> in
December, in which individuals were bussed from polling station to
polling station to cast multiple ballots, her story adds yet another
vital bit of information about how Russia's "managed democracy" is
managed on polling day.

And Kolpakova's story is not unique.

Gazeta.ru <http://www.gazeta.ru/politics/
elections2011/2012/02/09_a_3994193.shtml> reported today that an
election worker in St. Petersburg, Tatyana Ivanova, said she was
offered 70,000 rubles to "help United Russia" by inflating its
candidates' vote totals. She refused and was fired.

It's not hard to imagine similar scenes playing out across Russia,
albeit with less resistance.

In the video, Kolpakova said she expected similar falsifications to be
attempted in the March 4 presidential election:

The protocols will simply be rewritten in the way they need them to
be. The task is simple. Putin must win in the first round by a large
margin, with more than 70 percent. It doesn't matter if there are web
cameras in the polling stations. It doesn't matter how many observers
there are or how much they film the voting. This will not prevent the
falsification of the election results. It's absurd. I feel bad about
how much taxpayers' money is being spent on this.

Kolpakova's allegations about the presidential election are consistent
with reports in the Russian media. The daily "Kommersant" <http://
kommersant.ru/doc/1863741> reported last week that election workers
are not only being pressured, but also being offered incentives, to
secure a decisive first-round victory for Putin:

According to information from the regions, electoral commissions are
gearing up for the presidential elections to be completed in one
round. In Stavropol Krai the opposition cited a resolution of the
regional electoral commission [that includes provisions to] award
extra bonuses to members of the territorial electoral commission...in
the event that the elections are completed in a single round. Boris
Obolenets, former leader of the regional branch of the Union of Right-
Wing Forces and Right Cause, told "Kommersant" that information is
coming in from the regions to the effect that electoral commission
chairmen have received an instruction for victory in the first round
at any price.

-- Brian Whitmore

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by: nina ivanova russophile from: Texas, USA
February 09, 2012 19:01
VOA and RFE/RL are infiltrated by our great Russian FSB
"No one bothered to confirm whether the answers received by email came
from Mr. Navalny. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) also had a
similar incident in which someone impersonated another opposition
figure in Russia."
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/feb/8/voa-harms-putin-opposition-in-russia/

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by: Frank
February 10, 2012 01:21
At the top of the above blog post, a so-called "order" is claimed to
have gone out "to secure a first-round victory for Vladimir Putin in
the upcoming presidential election."

Feel free to clearly establish that claim; preferably with a direct
quote, who specifically said so and when?

Basic Journalism 101, which seems to get put aside, in a number of
high profile instances; thereby exhibiting what's truly wrong with the
high profile coverage and commentary.

I recall Leon Aron (who is capable of not writing propaganda) say
(claim) that in Russia, the fudging of numbers is something done
locally, in a way that suggests a process which isn't approved at the
top.

In any event, it doesn't look like Putin and his supporters will need
to cheat to win the upcoming presidential election.

The Bukovskys of the world have little support in Russia.

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In Response

by: Brian Whitmore from: Prague
February 10, 2012 13:12
"The task is simple. Putin must win in the first round by a large
margin, with more than 70 percent." -- Irina Kolpakova, electoral
commission official from Samara on February 8, 2012

"In Stavropol Krai the opposition cited a resolution of the regional
electoral commission [that includes provisions to] award extra bonuses
to members of the territorial electoral commission...in the event that
the elections are completed in a single round." --reported by
Kommersant on February 2, 2012

And FYI, Vladimir Bukovsky is not on the ballot for the March 4
election...

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In Response
by: Frank
February 10, 2012 17:48
So says Kolpakova, without being particularly specific, along with
Kommersant as quoted and one other person in St. Petersburg.
"Specific" refers to the names of folks said to seek manipulating the
vote, along with the time and place of the occurrence, as well as
direct quotes. Which "local officials" as stated in the above piece?
Some or all?

As earlier suggested, the issue of number fudging seems like it might
very well be more of a local issue, as opposed to one being ordered
from the top. If so, then chalk up another example of how local
autonomy can be problematical.

A valid enough whataboutism notes how the more democratic of countries
include understood perks for areas showing a greater return for the
winning candidate.

In Russia, the likes of Bukovsky flopping have more to do with the
limited appeal of his views than "censorship."

===

In Response
by: Jennifer Ciotta from: New York
February 10, 2012 20:37
Dear Brian,

Thank you for the insightful article today, but to me, the real story
lies in if Putin will change. Yes, elections are rigged, but this is
commonplace. The Russian people know this and so do we.

However, what I find most interesting is if Putin will listen to his
people this time around. They cannot be ignored, esp. when there are
120,000 anti-Putin protestors in downtown Moscow on a cold Saturday
afternoon. If you look back to the year 2000, this situation reminds
me of the Kursk submarine, which I firmly believed changed Putin into
the leader he is today. The media and people protested, and Putin took
a more authoritarian stance because of it. But can he risk doing that
now? The Kursk had media backlash, and some forms of protest, but now
we're talking about full-blown protests.

Whatever happens, this is a major year for Russia and Putin, and I'm
sure we'll get our answer soon. Spaseeba, Brian, for your well-
researched and well-written daily blog posts.

Jennifer Ciotta
author of I, Putin (Vladimir Putin novel)
http://vladimirputinnovel.com

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by: Vakhtang from: Moscow
February 11, 2012 00:06
So, what do we have?
It is clear that Putin did not expect a sharp negative reaction of the
population of Russia on his return to the presidency.
It is believed that this guilty of persons whose task was to monitor
the mood of the population and to report to Putin.
They tried to convince Putin that everything is under control and
there is no protest against Putin in the community.
Recovering from the shock at a secret meeting Putin demanded that his
assistants to take action so that he was elected president in first
round
Began a massive attraction in Putin's team of famous athletes, actors,
academics, religious figures..
Launched war of compromising materials against the opposition
Intimidation of the Russian population with threat of the collapse of
the country
All presidential candidates are chosen so, that they can not compete
with Putin..
It is clear that in this direction Putin is willing to make many
tricks:
bribery
blackmail
intimidation
persuasion
It is clear also that Putin does not want to go and the question here,
whether Putin to take radical measures, such as the introduction of
martial law and execution??
So I would advise to Mr.Whitmore analysis to what extremes can go
Putin, for the sake of retaining power.

Perhaps that the most fair elections in Russia were, when people chose
Yeltsin, who has deceived the expectations and turned out to be
trivial drinker..After this there was no election in Russia --were
appointments.
Putin is not ready for the honest methods of election campaign....
so what Putin is ready to??..Mr. Whitmore try to strain your "gray
matter"...and finally give us your readers something reasonable and
not an empty statement of facts...

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by: Le Ruscino from: Monaco
February 12, 2012 11:00
Putin will win or Russia and World Democracy will loose - Hard Truth!
Think about it like adults not media spoonfed kids.

The Western media is doing everything to stop a Putin victory and
trying to influence Russians to do the wrong thing so the UN & NATO
countries can continue their rampage to put thugs representing
minorities into power such as NTC in Libya and the attempts in Syria.
Is this democratic?

Putin is the only credible person who can help stabilise Russia and
World peace and Medvedev has been a jjellyfish by all accounts.

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by: Thomas H from: California, U.S.A.
February 12, 2012 23:24
The elections in Russia since the Russian Federation began seem to be
more than just about electing officials, and there does seem to be
things that are structurally in the elections system in Russia that
make for the types of contentions that are the subject of the
Kolpakova interview here, and others. Russia as a major country, and
in the system of its plebiscites appears to clash with itself,
somewhat perceived as the rulers not having ideals that parallel some
in the populace. It is important as well to know from this article and
others as posted that more issues than personal preferences and
personality itself need to be examined in elections that should run
smoothly in a major country and without infighting and other
conflicts. What to do?


http://www.rferl.org/content/how_to_rig_an_election/24479213.html

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