CEC Deputy Head: District Election Council Insists on Opening 2 Polling Stations in Russia

Pavel Postica, deputy chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC), said that only two polling stations could be opened in Russian Federation, not five as expected. According to Postica, the decision belongs to the members of the District Electoral Council. The CEC deputy chairman did not specify the arguments behind the decision, but said that the CEC was analyzing the situation and would react later, newtv.md reported. “We received an opinion of the Interior Ministry, based on the conclusion of the Security and Intelligence Service, which says that they cannot provide security for election commissions and voters in a number of regions of the Russian Federation, except in the location of the diplomatic mission, and proposed to open only two polling stations, in Moscow. Together with the CEC members, we analyzed and decided that it is still necessary to open at least five polling stations in the Russian Federation, including Surgut, Yaroslavl and St. Petersburg. They are quite far from the front line, and the probability, from our point of view, of any military incidents in these areas is quite low, including in comparison with other hotbeds of instability, such as Israel. That is why we have proposed five polling stations,” Postica said. The CEC deputy chairman also states that CEC members were recently informed that “the District Election Council insists on opening only two polling stations”. The PSRM recently appealed to the Chisinau Court of Appeal against the decision of the Central Election Commission (CEC) to open 231 polling stations abroad, of which only 5 were in Russia. PSRM argued that their small number limited the diaspora’s suffrage in that country. However, their appeal was rejected as unfounded. Moreover, yesterday the socialists said that only 2 polling stations could be opened in Russia.