Saturday 19 July 2008
05/12/2007 / RUSSIA
New possible evidence of election fraud
Material compiled by our Russia observer, Allena Ponomaryova
Further possible proof of election fraud is emerging. Blogger Grigori Belonuchkin who was monitoring a polling station on the day, has revealed evidence that some documents sent to the electoral committee were fake. The papers, which had been modified to boost the count for President Vladimir Putin's party, were located and corrected. However, the blogger says that others had already been registered.
Post your questions to our Russia observer, Allena Ponomaryova, or directly to Grigori (he speaks english).
Fake documents exposed
Gregori was acting as an electoral monitor for the communist party in the suburbs of Moscow. After the vote-counting, he went to the electoral committee to examine the votes returned by polling stations. There, he took photos of the different documents sent in.
He drew attention to documents sent in by central Moscow station 305. The polling station had sent in a document displaying results at 11pm.
However, a second document was produced at 11.50pm, signed by the very same polling station officials. The two papers were quite different. Putin's party's share of the votes had leapt from 47,9% to 68,36% in the second document.
The contradictory sets of results:
| Party | 11pm stats |
11.50pm stats |
| Agarian Party |
2.85% |
0.2% |
| Civil Force |
2.24% |
0.5% |
| Democratic Party |
- |
- |
| Communist Party |
17.6% | 17.6% |
| Union of Right Forces |
3.85% |
1.83% |
| Party of Social Justice | 0.41% |
0.41% |
| The Liberal Democratic Party of Russia |
6.81% | 6.81% |
| Fair Russia |
9.77% |
1.53% |
| Patriots of Russia |
1.83% |
0.92% |
| United Russia |
47.91% |
68.36% |
| Russian Democratic Party 'Yabloko' |
5.29% |
0.41% |
| Invalid ballots |
1.42% | 1.42% |
Grigori took the photos when the electoral committee was examining false documents from different polling stations. It was the second set of results, the one that favoured Putin's party, that were sent from station 305. Only after various complaints the document was made invalid and the real results registered.
Even so, according to Grigori, some of these fraudulent documents wouldn't have been noticed by the committee. He's certain that this is what happened with results from station number 306.
Grigori says that he compared the results of the station monitors with the results published online by the electoral committee. And once again, the fraudulent documents favour the President's party.
Polling station 306
| Party | Observers copy |
False document |
| Total number of ballots | 57.12% | 76.77% |
| Agarian Party |
2.66% |
0.5% |
| Civil Force |
2.40% | 0.1% |
| Democratic Party |
0.37% |
- |
| Communist Party |
12.4% |
9.23% |
| Union of Right Forces |
3.89% |
0.99% |
| Party of Social Justice |
0.13% |
0.10% |
| The Liberal Democratic Party of Russia |
8.93% |
2.68% |
| Fair Russia |
9.33% |
1.29% |
| Patriots of Russia |
1.33% |
0.5% |
| United Russia |
54.4% |
82.44% |
| Russian Democratic Party 'Yabloko' |
2.93% |
1.19% |
| Invalid ballots |
1.33% |
0.99% |
“I’m ashamed”
Grigori is an independent journalist. He monitored the polling station for the Russian Communist Party, but he told us that he's not a member of the party. In addition to the site on which he published this information, he also produces a site devoted to Russian politicians called www.politika.su. Our observer Allena Ponomaryova contacted him by phone to confirm comments left on the site. He says:
These people [those in charge of station 305 who falsified documents], have committed a crime- by cowardice or corruption. And I bet they'll tell themselves that
it's their duty, for country and party. I'm ashamed [...]. These people have
signed false documents, or at best, filled in a blank form with false results."
You can contact Grigori directly on his profile page.
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Comments
I'm ashamed, too. I don't
Submitted by Unregistered user on Thu, 06/12/2007 - 15:39.I'm ashamed, too. I don't understand why Putin is not criticised more in Europe.
Unregistered user
What do you know about Russia?
Submitted by Anonyme (not verified) on Sat, 08/12/2007 - 12:52.European and American media keep criticizing Putin. And that's why you're so "ashamed". But come to Russia and you'll see that the majority does support Putin. You're judging Russia from far away, without understanding our culture. And you don't know what we went through before.
Unregistered user
Putin is not supported by
Submitted by Maria (not verified) on Mon, 10/12/2007 - 12:05.Putin is not supported by "the majority" even if you consider that the results of these elections are trustworthy. About 64 percent of the people voted, and about 64 percent of those voted for United russia. A quick calculation reveals that the total percentage of "putin supporters" is less than 41 percent, far from "majority". This is not even mentioning millions of people that were coerced into voting, and blatantly falcified results that are estimated to up UR percentage by at least 10. Or do you really think that 99 percent of Chechens voted for Putin? Life is too short to be in denial.
Unregistered user
Where does that calculation come from????
Submitted by Iris (not verified) on Tue, 11/12/2007 - 23:45.Following your argument, no president on earth is legitimate. Abstention rate is above 30% in most democracies. And most elections end up with a winner who gets less than 60% of the votes. Which means that, if I get you well, Sarkozy and Bush election should be considered invalid. That's pure non sense, whether or not you support Putin.
Unregistered user
What makes these elections
Submitted by Allena (not verified) on Wed, 12/12/2007 - 07:03.What makes these elections invalid is not the abstention rates or number of votes for the winner. They are invalid because the results have been forged. There is a certain procedure that has to be respected if the elections are to be democratic and legitimate, and in this case, the procedure was violated.
Unregistered user