Ethics Newsline®

“Most fraud occurs when election officials compile lists of voters, including people who are not eligible to vote in their district.”

– Lilia Shibanova, head of Golos, the only independent Russian election monitoring group, speaking to the Moscow Times about alleged violations in the run-up to Sunday’s presidential election installing Dmitry Medvedev as the next head of Russia. Medvedev, hand-picked by outgoing president Vladimir Putin, who is widely expected to remain in control of the country, was elected after opposition candidates were barred from the election.

While authorities “either denied any voting irregularities or dismissed them as negligible,” the Moscow Times reports that “numerous observers and voters called the Golos hotline and reported incidents of ballot boxes being stuffed ahead of the vote.”

Source: Moscow Times, Mar. 3.

For more information, see: Related Newsline Commentary, Dec. 4, 2006 — Related Newsline Commentary, Nov. 20, 2006 — Related Newsline story, Nov. 13, 2006 — Related Newsline story, June 5, 2006 — Related Newsline story, June 6, 2005.