DISINFO: European observers noted the level of organisation of voting in Russia
SUMMARY
European experts closely watched how the voting took place in Russia. They noted the high level of organisation of security measures and the electronic voting. The French are interested in the Russian system. They believe that it can be an example to the rest.
RESPONSE
One of the disinformation narratives about voting on amendments to the Russian Constitution. According to the independent observers, such large-scale fraud as during the voting on constitutional amendments, has not been seen since 2011. In just six days of voting on constitutional amendments, the movement for voter rights "Golos" received 682 messages with signs of violations. Activists identified several types of violations: abuse of authority and illegal activities of election commissions, coercion to vote, illegal campaigning by election commissions, state bodies and officials, multiple voting, ballot box stuffing and violation of voting secrecy. As for the European observers, BBC Russian analysed who was coming from abroad to monitor voting and stated that most of those invited "European experts" were actually already closely connected with Russia, with some known abroad for their far-right views. Moreover, on July 2, the European Union urged Moscow to investigate all allegations of election wrongdoing and issued a reminder about Russia’s international treaty responsibilities.