"Golos" states fivefold overstating the voter turnout at election in NCFD

The movement in defence of voters' rights named "Golos" (Vote) published new analysis of video records made at polling stations during the Russian presidential election on March 18, having compared the number of ballots in the final protocols and the number of voters recorded by video cameras. Based on the analysis of records from 233 polling stations in 17 Russian regions, Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria and Chechnya occurred among the regions with the highest overstating of voter turnout, says the report posted on the website of the movement.

The highest discrepancy was revealed at the polling station No. 1058 in Dagestan: volunteers counted only 548 voters who had actually cast their ballots there, in contrast to the official figure of 2710 voters; that is, the overstatement was almost fivefold. Approximately the same discrepancy was found at station No. 167 in Nalchik: 425 voters according to volunteers, and 1924 ones according to official data, the report has indicated.

The difference of the data in the video with the official protocols exceeding 1000 voters was found by the "Golos" in nine stations; eight of them were in the regions of Northern Caucasus.

"These significant discrepancies in voter turnout probably evidence massive falsifications committed in Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria and Chechnya," the report says and concludes that the allegations of a "special electoral culture" in these regions are unjustified, since the real voter turnout in the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD) was not essentially different from the average Russian figures.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 18, 2018 at 07:28 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.