#15 - JRL 7282
Russian political parties to sign fair campaigning
accord
ITAR-TASS
August 8, 2003
Russia's political parties intend to sign an agreement on fair campaigning, Central Election Committee Chairman Alexander Veshnyakov said at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin on Friday.
Veshnyakov said it might be possible to set up a council to monitor the implementation of such an agreement. The relevant organizing committee has already been established.
It comprises representatives of political parties, journalist associations and promotion experts.
"Our objective is to ensure legitimate elections, that is not to step over the moral line, which, unfortunately, is sometimes stepped over," Veshnyakov said.
Russia will complete the modernization of its GAS-Vybory electronic election system, which in many ways is expected to remove "the human factor" in vote counting, according to Veshnyakov.
"New equipment is supplied to all the regions. In addition, new software allows for automatic data transfer without the human factor," he said.
The practice of placing voting protocols on the web sites of regional election commission within one day of ballot casting will be used for the first time in the world.
According to Veshnyakov, a comprehensive improvement of the election legislation has been completed. "We have finished all we planned to do," he said.
The objective was to boost the role of election parties and, at the same, time, make them more responsible. In addition, the authorities were aiming to eliminate the irregularities which happened during previous elections.
"The most important thing is to create additional mechanisms for public control over the election results, in order to dispel any doubts," Veshnyakov said, adding that "these tasks have been fulfilled as regards the legal aspect."
Some parties propose the following procedure: the observers at each voting station receive the final election commission protocol in the presence of eye-witnesses. They then send it to their headquarters and, on the following day, compare it with the information published on the site.
"In case of any mismatch, the issues can be resolved promptly and eliminate the doubts regarding the voting results," Veshnyakov stated.
In the course of the meeting, Putin and Veshnyakov discussed the CEC's work in connection with the upcoming parliamentary election and the elections in a number of Russian regions.
According to Veshnyakov, the CEC pays special attention to the situation in Karachai-Cherkessiya and Chechnya.
Speaking about Chechnya, the CEC chief said "our representatives already work there; for example they meet with potential candidates. There are no registered candidates yet, but a dozen or more are willing /to run for Chechnya president/," Veshnyakov said.
"It is good. It means people understand the procedure of forming government through elections. It is very important here that the election is held strictly in line with law. We wish to invite foreign observers so that they could see that the Chechen government is forming legitimately," he added.
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