Stavropol students complain about being forced to do selfies during primaries

On May 22, regions of Russia, including in the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD) and the Southern Federal District (SFD) hold the primaries of the "Edinaya Rossiya" (United Russia) Party to determine candidates. In the Stavropol Territory, 192 participants of the primaries of the "Edinaya Rossiya" Party have been registered.

Ilya Yurchishin, the leader of the Union of Stavropol Youth, has reported on violations during the primaries.

He has stated that deans and supervisors demand from students of Stavropol institutions of higher education "to vote for a certain candidate." According to him, Ilya Yurchishin also require from students to make photos of voting bulletins with their mobile phones and send pictures to confirm their actions. "I report all the facts of violations to the 'hotline' of the primaries," Ilya Yurchishin told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to students of the Stavropol Pedagogical Institute, they were forced to sign the lists to confirm that they will take part in the voting. "We all are sent to the pooling stations relevant to our places of residence. And we are to vote and make a selfie to confirm that we have come to the voting," stated a student as quoted by the "Notepad of Stavropol".

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.