How Moscow will vote on March 4

Moscow is considered to be a unique region within the pan-Russian elections. Along with St.-Petersburg its electorate is more liberal, but not always active. After the parliamentary elections in December, observers have many questions about Moscow. Why did protest demonstrations demand cancellation of the elections’ results, even though United Russia had gained 46.62% of the votes here? Why did United Russia get less votes in the Moscow region than in the capital? Why was voter participation and the percentage of voices for United Russia so high in Moscow? Three weeks after the elections the Investigatory Committee and the Ministry for Internal Affairs presented a preliminary report on falsifications to Dmitry Medvedev. It appeared that the majority of falsifications were registered in Moscow. That is why close attention is being paid to voting on March 4th in the capital.

The chairman of the Moscow City Electoral Commission, Valentin Gorbunov, said that 3387 electoral districts were established for holding the elections in Moscow on March 4th, 3180 out of which are in residential areas, and 207 districts are in recreational places. 2868 electoral districts were established in educational facilities, 129 in cultural facilities, 186 - in healthcare facilities, 11 in pretrial detention facilities, 7 in railway stations, and one at Vnukovo airport.

All the electoral commissions have already been formed, with more than 43,000 people working in them. 20% of the commissions’ members have never worked there. The number of young people is growing after every election. More than 26% of election commissions’ members are under 30. As for representatives of parties, only 205 people represent United Russia. There are representatives of the CPRF, the LDPR, A Just Russia and Patriots of Russia, but in general, about 2 thousand, they are representatives of municipal institutions, social unions, non-parliamentary parties and electoral assemblies. The same goes for deputies and secretaries of commissions.

Along with the elections for president, Moscow will hold elections for deputies to municipal assemblies. There 125 municipal unities in the city, thus there are 1560 seats. On December 4th serious problems were observed at the electoral district in the Central Telegraph. Due to the mass media and the ignorance of some heads of territorial commissions, all citizens, including non-residents of Moscow without absentee ballots, were sent to this place. Of course, according to the law, they weren’t allowed to vote there, and it caused a disturbance. It would be nice if the mass media explains to citizens that such electoral districts are established for those who have no registration in Russia at all. For this category of citizens each region organizes at least one such districts. Of course, they will only elect the president and won’t participate in the local elections. Students from other cities and people who vote through absentee ballots, do not participate in the municipal elections either.

According to the law, applications for voting at home will be accepted on the day of elections till 14:00 (previously they were accepted till 16:00).

In these elections some innovations will be launched, including transparent containers at all electoral elections. Electoral districts are being equipped with web-cameras. Due to these innovations we will hold Welcome Day on February 25th. Some separate electoral districts will be fully equipped in the near future. We will invite the mass media, political parties and social organizations, which plan to send their observers to the elections. We will see where observers should sit and so on. It will be the last rehearsal for the elections. After that, recommendations to all regional commissions will be sent. “The rehearsal” begins at 10:00. The list of participants will be published on the web-site of the Moscow City Electoral Commission. Gorbunov hopes that all these measures will enable the election campaign to be held without violations.