Teachers of Sochi complain that they are forced to take absentee ballots

Employees of government-financed organizations of Sochi complain that their management makes them get absentee ballots for the election of President of the Russian Federation. The management of organizations and territorial election committees (TEC) deny their involvement in bringing pressure on them.

Issue of absentee ballots in four TECs of Sochi started on January, 18, and will last till February, 12. Representatives of the municipal election committee reported that all in all up to 15 thousand absentee ballots were issued in the city. If these are not enough the TECs can order an additional amount in the regional election committee.

Deputy Chairman of "Tsentralnoye" ("Central") TEC Vasily Marchenko told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the regional election committee issued 3600 absentee ballots. Every TEC received 4000 absentee ballots.

According to Evgenia Formagina, Secretary of "Tsentralnoye" TEC, as of January, 30, already over one thousand absentee ballots were distributed. To receive the ballot a citizen must submit a statement, produce the passport and specify the reason why he or she cannot vote in their regional polling station.

Several employees of government-financed organizations of Sochi told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that they were receiving orders to take absentee ballots from the management of schools, kindergartens, hospitals and other municipal institutions. These interlocutors preferred to remain anonymous.

"They threaten me with discharge in case of refusal to take the absentee ballot", a woman who, according to our information, works in kindergarten No 45 reported. She added that the directors of educational institutions demand from their employees to report registration numbers of their absentee ballots.

Our correspondent became a witness of an episode in "Tsentralnoye" TEC when two school employees got indignant about "being sent to take the absentee ballots for some electoral schemes". But when the correspondent took out her camera they started repeating that they "like Putin and will vote for him".

Chairperson of "Psou" TEC Natalia Kalinovskaya considers that the absentee ballots are used for so-called "carousels". According to Kalinovskaya, "employees dependent on their management and half-educated people take part in them".

"In particular, there are polling stations with no observers from political parties. It is there that the persons having absentee ballots will be taken or told to go for voting. In the polling station the absentee ballots must be taken away and ballot papers must be given to the citizens instead. Now, imagine that there is a dependent chairman and only dependent members of the committees. Then the absentee ballot is not taken away and a person can vote as many times as the number of polling stations without observers", Kalinovskaya says.

With all these, the stream of people to get the absentee ballots does not go down, members of TECs state.

Irina Gorbatiuk, member of "Tsentralnoye" TEC, told us that sometimes people come and just ask: "Give me an absentee ballot". In reply to the question about the reason for doing so from a member of a committee people say that it is "the management's order".

"When you tell them that it is not the proper reason they ask which a valid one is and point it out in their statements", Irina Gorbatiuk added.

Deputy Chairman of "Tsentralnoye" TEC Vasily Marchenko strongly objected to the assumption of the use of absentee ballots for any kind of tampering or forgery saying that "such things are impossible and have never existed".

Directors of schools and kindergartens also deny their involvement in pressure upon their subordinates, including forcing them to get absentee ballots.

It is worth mentioning that as of January, 30, only one report of a violation in Southern and North-Caucasian Federal okrugs is posted at kartanarusheniy.ru web-site. This was a message from an anonymous participant of the project from Sochi who reported issue of absentee ballots which in his opinion was illegal.