Analysts have assessed the intensity of passions in the Caucasus during the vote on the design of the 500-ruble banknote

Voting for a new design for the 500-ruble banknote is nothing out of the ordinary, but the Central Bank failed to ensure sufficient transparency, turning the process into a competition between the peoples of the Caucasus, exacerbating the use of administrative resources.

As reported by the " Caucasian Knot ," on October 12, the Bank of Russia prematurely halted the vote on the symbols for the new 500-ruble banknote, stating that numerous attempts were observed during the voting process to "increase the number of votes for certain objects using technical means." The vote was decided to be held later under stricter conditions. As of October 12, Mount Elbrus was significantly ahead of Grozny-City in the online voting results. However, Chechen authorities declared the halt to the vote a victory .

Svetlana Aliyeva, a public figure and human rights activist from Kabardino-Balkaria, told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on October 13 that she had read calls to vote for Elbrus on the websites of the republic's governor's office, the local administrations of the Baksan and Elbrus districts, the Kabardino-Balkarian Ministry of Health, and private Telegram channels.

Mount Elbrus deserves to be on banknotes.

"I also believe that if we were to choose what to depict on a banknote, then, of course, preference should be given to Mount Elbrus. If only because it's a natural landmark known throughout the world. I'd also like to recall the heroism of the Soviet soldiers who fought on Elbrus during the Great Patriotic War and died there. Mount Elbrus deserves to be on banknotes," Aliyeva believes.

The responsibility for ensuring the fairness and transparency of the process lies with the organizer, not with the participants.

Journalist Madina Shavlokhova believes that the Central Bank's decision to announce a vote was simply "wrongly executed." "The Central Bank's initiative to hold a popular vote, appealing directly to the public, certainly deserves respect as an attempt to engage citizens in the decision-making process. However, such a significant project required a more thorough and mature design, including a full-fledged registration and verification system for participants, which, unfortunately, was not implemented. Ultimately, this oversight led to a scandal: the winner of the competition, Mount Elbrus, was left without the recognition it deserved. The organizer, the Central Bank, accused voters of vote rigging. But such a situation primarily points to serious shortcomings in the voting organization itself. Responsibility for ensuring the integrity and transparency of the process lies with the organizer, not the participants. Shifting the blame to the public not only undermines trust in such initiatives but also leaves a bad taste. Next time, people will think twice about whether to take the initiatives of this government agency seriously," she told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Dagestani journalist Idris Yusupov * believes that when discussing what is happening around online voting, it is important to understand the context.

"Information about this competition didn't surface in the last few days, but it's only really entered the news in the last week. The Central Bank periodically holds these kinds of competitions for images on various banknotes. It's standard practice to select a more or less iconic image for the banknotes. This time, they decided to hold the competition in the North Caucasus. In fact, from the very beginning of the voting, at least in Dagestan—I don't know about Chechnya or other regions—there wasn't much activity at all. That is, this activity only emerged after the hype generated by the active participation of the Chechen Republic," he told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to the journalist, the Dagestani authorities became more active due to the active participation of the Chechen audience. "This competition lasted about two weeks. The Chechen authorities wanted to promote their image, so they began using administrative and public resources, calling on residents of the Chechen Republic to vote in an organized manner. Moreover, as I understand it, the system was such that the same person could cast a vote in four different ways. This increased the number of votes," Yusupov* noted.

Only when this news item had already reached its peak, when there was already obvious competition between the Grozny City complex and Mount Elbrus, did active campaigning begin in Dagestan

Dagestan has only become involved in the last few days; there hadn't been such strong activity in the republic until around October 10th, even though the competition had been announced on October 1st. "Only when this news cycle had already reached its peak, when there was already clear competition between the Grozny City complex and Mount Elbrus, did active campaigning begin in Dagestan," the journalist said.

In his opinion, Dagestan's active involvement, however, couldn't have significantly affected the competition's results. "Because, in fact, the leaders' results have already gone through the roof, I think, over a million votes. So, you have to imagine the numbers, how many people were already involved. Despite the activism—text messages, promises of rewards—some memes and jokes have already started popping up. For example, someone says they won't use the 500-ruble note with Derbent's image because it's not a worthy denomination, since Derbent, as it turns out, is not 2,000, but 5,000 years old. Therefore, only the 5,000-ruble note is worthy of it," Yusupov* said.

The sharp increase in votes for Elbrus may indicate that the voting for Elbrus was subject to some kind of manual intervention.

He believes that the Chechen Republic's representatives' concerns about the authenticity of the voting results may be entirely justified. "They (the Chechens) carried out a great deal of organizational work, sent out mailings, organized contests, and promised gifts, and according to testimony, their vote growth was quite organic. That is, these votes were more or less real, even though people could vote several times, but they still voted. And the situation they described—that after the organic increase in votes for Grozny-City, there was such a surge, a sharp increase in votes for Elbrus—this could indicate that the Elbrus vote was subject to some kind of manual intervention," the journalist explained.

According to him, in the case of the vote for the image on the 500-ruble note, the "scythe" of administrative resources met the "stone" of manual interference in the results of the electronic vote. "The complaints of Dudayev, and then Kadyrov himself, are understandable, because, in addition to even their administrative resources, there was simple manual interference in the vote, and thus the results were adjusted," Yusupov* emphasized.

Chechen political scientist Ruslan Kutayev ** believes that the vote for the new design of the 500-ruble banknote was specifically aimed at complicating relations between the peoples of the Caucasus.

It would be better if Chechens and Caucasian peoples did not participate in such a competition.

"This is conceived <...> by the authorities to further complicate the already complex relations between the peoples of the Caucasus, that is, to intensify opposition, mistrust, and confrontation. And it would be better if the Chechens and the peoples of the Caucasus did not participate in such a competition. If I had my way, I would ask that they not participate in any events of an aggressive state. The competition is intended to show that they have conquered the Caucasus, that the Caucasus is under their control, and there is no resistance," he told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

However, he added, since a competition was being held, Elbrus would be the best symbol. "Elbrus is a pan-Caucasian symbol. Elbrus is a mountain that belongs to no one. It is a mountain that is a symbol of the entire Caucasus. Therefore, some buildings, some structures, cannot compare to the summit of Elbrus," Kutayev* believes.

On October 10, the Dagestan Ministry of Tourism announced a raffle for an apartment, a car, and 10 iPhones among those who voted for the image of the Derbent Fortress to appear on the back of the 500-ruble banknote. Public sector employees are participating in the voting.

As a reminder, the idea of ​​depicting "Grozny-City" or Mount Elbrus on the new 500-ruble banknote was criticized by the "Russian Community," calling it  "ideological sabotage ." Blogger Max Divnich, who had clashed with "Akhmat," urged his followers to vote for Elbrus over Grozny.

Regional leaders called on residents to participate in the symbol selection, while social media users called the competition  far-fetched . Several symbols will be used on each side of the 500-ruble note, and the winner of the vote will not necessarily occupy the central place on the banknote, the Bank of Russia explained.

The idea of ​​depicting "Grozny-City" on the 500-ruble banknote, which the "Russian Community" is campaigning against, is presented by Kadyrov as a symbol of the success of the imperial project, while both sides in the conflict  are concerned  only with their own prestige and influence, and not with state unity.

The "Caucasian Knot" is compiling news stories related to the voting process for the 500-ruble banknote in a series titled " The Fight for 500 Rubles in the Caucasus ."

* was added to the register of foreign agents by the Ministry of Justice, but does not agree with this and is challenging the status in court.

** included in the register of foreign agents by the Ministry of Justice.

Translated automatically via Google translate from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/416299