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Oppositionist Alexej Navalny in the Moscow City Court: "United Russia wants to steal these elections from us"
Photo: Moscow City Court Press Service / TASS / picture alliance / dpa
According to the authorities, the Kremlin opponent Alexej Navalny, who was detained in a penal camp in Russia, was not allowed to vote in the parliamentary elections. According to Russian law, convicted persons are excluded from elections, said the deputy chief of the penal system, Valery Boyarinev, according to the Interfax agency. Only people in custody against whom there has not yet been a legally valid judgment are allowed to vote. "As far as I know, the verdict against Navalny is final," said Boyarinev.
The 45-year-old opposition member had previously called on the people in Russia to protest against the Kremlin party, United Russia, from the prison camp east of Moscow.
"Today is an important day," said his spokeswoman Kira Jarmysch.
"United Russia wants to steal these elections from us and then rob us of another five years." The vote is also an important test of mood for President Vladimir Putin.
Massive allegations of manipulation
Since the beginning on Friday, the election has been overshadowed by allegations of manipulation. Independent observers from the Golos organization have listed thousands of violations across the country - mostly with photo and video recordings. The Golos expert Andrei Busin called the extent "significant" - especially in Putin's hometown of St. Petersburg. There, people literally fought for their votes, as can be seen on videos. In many cases, ballot boxes were crammed full of pre-filled voting slips. There were also reports of compulsory voting, for example among civil servants, as well as multiple votes. Observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) were not represented because they did not agree with the conditions and the small number of authorized experts.
The central election commission announced that it would investigate the complaints.
More than 7,000 ballots had been canceled by Sunday morning, it said.
Election supervisor Ella Pamfilowa said eight cases have been confirmed so far in which packs of ballot papers have been stuffed into the urns.
Even the communists, who are hoping for an increase in votes in view of the widespread dissatisfaction with the policies of the Kremlin, complained of violations and announced protests.
Turnout at 40 percent
To the annoyance of the Kremlin opponents, the Internet giants Google, Youtube, Apple and the news channel Telegram had deleted the Navalny team's recommendations for “smart voting”.
Specific names were given for which voters should vote.
The content banned by the authorities was still available on Twitter.
The parliamentary and regional elections should end on Sunday evening after three days across the country, 14 parties stood for the election of the new parliament.
450 MPs were elected for a period of five years.
Around 110 million people in Russia and abroad were called to vote for the new State Duma.
The turnout was given as a little over 40 percent by early afternoon.
rai / dpa
