TEC: throw-in of ballot papers at elections in Krasnodar was a provocation

The incident with a throw-in of 92 ballot papers at the city polling station No. 21-20 in Krasnodar on December 4 was a provocation and had no effect on the outcomes of the voting, said Tatiana Shuruba, the chair of the Karasun Territorial Election Commission (TEC).

"At vote count, the above ballot papers were not considered. I believe that the investigation will find out the motives and establish the initiators of the throw-in of ballot papers," she said.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Krasnodar investigators had started a criminal investigation initiated at the request of one of the candidates for Russian State Duma Deputies from the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), who claimed a throw-in of 92 ballot papers at the city polling station No. 21-20.

When one of ballot boxes was opened, an observer noticed that 92 ballot papers lay there as if they had been dropped together at the same time. All of them were marked as voted for the "Edinaya Rossiya" (United Russia) Party. At detailed study of the papers it turned out that they were to be issued out at the polling station No. 21-20. Meanwhile, at that polling station no shortage of ballot papers was revealed.

These ballot papers were separated from the rest of them, packed and sealed, the RIA "Novosti" reports. Currently, the investigatory actions are underway, as necessary to establish all the circumstances of the crime, says the statement posted on the website of the Investigatory Department for the Krasnodar Territory of the Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF).

This is not the only incident with an attempt to throw-in ballot papers in Krasnodar.

Thus, at the polling station No. 22-47, at the vote count, representatives of the LDPR and CPRF (Communist Party of the Russian Federation) also fixed a throw-in of packs of ballot papers marked for the "Edinaya Rossiya". The investigation is conducted by the respective investigatory bodies. Observers from the LDPR managed to capture packs of stacked ballot papers at polling stations Nos. 22-47 and 22-20 on video and photo carriers, says the statement posted on the website of the Krasnodar Territorial Branch of the LDPR, where photos from polling stations are presented.

According to a member of the election commission with a consultative vote, who represented the "Spravedlivaya Rossiya" (Fair Russia) Party, she managed to notice an attempt of the secretary of the commission at polling station No. 22-10 to throw a pack of ballot papers into a ballot box. Policemen were called to the place of the incident, said the press service of the Krasnodar territorial branch of the above party.

So far, the "Caucasian Knot" has no comments of the chair and secretary of this polling station.