The Elections. Time to Paste Up Cameras

The elections are becoming more and more lively. Complaints about ‘carousel’ have become old news, and now more sophisticated technologies are being employed.

Yuri Saprykin, in Alexei Navalny’s RosVybory HQ, reports another evacuation of the polling station pursuant to a bomb threat. His advice: “Get your mine detectors in advance.”

In Dagestan, they decided not to bow to the WebVybory cameras which show the polling stations in a live feed for the whole country to see, and pasted up the camera.

Head of the precinct attacks journalists under an alias.

RosVybory volunteers report that certain stations have pens with self-effacing ink by the booths. Members of the electoral commission allegedly possess special erasers.

Curioser and curioser. The Internet portal Slon.ru substitutes the word “infringement”, prohibited in mass media today, with the word “wizardry”. Their live feed, packed with “wizardry” as a can of sardines, sounds positively wacky.

Our regular column “Elections 2012, or Society Gossip Uncovered” features the fashion designer Valentin Yudashkin, voted in Paris today.

By Galina Azulay / Kommersant

Screenshot of the hour: two female members of electoral commission in the village of Vodogon, stealthily signing ballots for those absent, muttering quietly: “Let’s do it now, while there’s no one around.”

Katya Zolotova, voter:

“Aw come on, it’s painful to watch those web elections. A dude from Nizhny Tagil has just stuffed seven ballots into the box. There are no observers there. A lady has stuffed five more (EPS No. 2233, Sverdlovsk oblast, Nizhny Tagil, Gagarina street, 15).”

Alexei Navalny, head of Rosvybory:

“It’s clear that there will be lots of pro-Putin meetings tonight. On Manezhnaya square He is likely to appear Himself. [Blogger] Agadamov says that FSS [Federal Security Service] guys are all around the Duma, firearms and all. If you are the right sort of observer, though, you’ll only be free late at night, when the counting will be over. It would be time to go to bed. We won’t be provoked today. We’ll meet on Pushkinskaya square tomorrow at 7 pm.”

Elena Racheva, observer, journalist (Openspace.ru)

“We’ve just received an amazing document from one of the voters. It was confiscated from two girls, who had already been removed from the station. ‘Six-people teams go to Moscow’s polling stations. Their task is to approach those who have voted and ask them a couple of questions… When talking, you should not mention The Network of Putin’s Supporters. Question: We are conducting an exit poll. Who did you vote for? If they name any candidate apart from Putin, the girls say goodbye. If it’s Putin, the next question is: Do you know there is a threat of provocations, sabotaging the elections, declaring them illegitimate? If they say yes, the next question is: We suggest you publicly announce who you voted for to avoid future misunderstandings. The person is then photographed with the label of The Network of Putin’s Supporters.’ The document ends with this: “After the polling station is closed, all teams proceed to Manezhnaya square to celebrate the Victory.”

In the meanwhile, all downtown squares of Moscow are turning into huge parking lots. Bolotnaya, Manezhnaya, Teatralnaya and other squares are all packed with cars. It’s a good thing that observers and other busy people would only finish working very late.

Coming next: will the rallies of pro-Kremlin youngsters ever start; what else will the Russians invent to get as many ballots per person as possible.