Early voting may take place in 8 Russian border regions starting Aug 28 - CEC

MOSCOW. Aug 14 (Interfax) - The Russian Central Elections Commission (CEC) has adopted a resolution on additional measures to secure citizens' electoral rights on the territories of some of the country's regions, namely the Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kursk and Rostov regions, and also the Republic of Crimea, Sevastopol, and Krasnodar Territory.

"The task of the Central Elections Commission, as well as the entire electoral system, is to ensure the exercise and protection of Russian citizens' electoral rights," CEC Deputy Chair Nikolai Bulayev said.

"Apparently, special regulations governing preparations for and organizing elections can now be introduced [...] to ensure the security [and] protect the lives and health of Russian citizens, [and] to secure citizens' electoral rights. In this case, we are talking about the regions stated in the Russian presidential decree, these regions are the Republic of Crimea, Krasnodar Territory, the Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kursk, and Rostov regions, [and] the city of Sevastopol," Bulayev said at a CEC meeting on Wednesday.

Early voting can take place in eight border regions at elections commissions' decisions starting from August 28, the CEC said. Early voting can take place at polling stations, at citizens' homes, in areas near residential buildings, on territories that have no premises for voting and with which transport links are complicated, or where it is not possible to organize voting in specified premises.

"To be included in voter lists in their places of stay within their constituency, citizens need to file applications using the Mobile Voter technology, and if such application cannot be filed they need to contact district commissions in their places of stay directly before voting day," the CEC said on its Telegram channel.

The commission's resolution envisages measures to ensure security during the organization of voting and during the ballot count, the commission said.

Russian CEC Chair Ella Pamfilova said at a CEC meeting that the commission "tried to avoid early voting, to minimize it in that life, including in 2016-2022," because "it was regarded as a source of possible violations." Pamfilova said the CEC "had minimized the possibility of early voting," as the electoral system had developed.

"But we are now living a different life, in a different reality, and we cannot help but take it into account. We cannot help but take into account the challenges our colleagues are facing, especially in the regions that we call border regions," she said.

"On the one hand, we have citizens' demands for voting, the wish [...] of many categories who are in difficult situations [...] On the other hand, our priority is to ensure out citizens' safety," Pamfilova said.

Pamfilova said earlier that more than 4,000 election campaigns are to be conducted in 83 regions on Unified Voting Day scheduled for September 8. Elections at various levels, including direct gubernatorial elections in 21 Russian regions and the Moscow City Duma election, are planned.