Statements

22 September 2021

Pictured: Elena Lukyanova, lawyer, professor at the Free University, laureate of the Moscow Helsinki Group prize and one of the signatories of the appeal

Source: Moscow Helsinki Group [original source: Новая газета, 22.09.2021]

An open letter to the head of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC)

Dear Ella Aleksandrovna,

We, voters, political scientists, politicians and members of the public, are alarmed and outraged that the CEC of Russia has created serious obstacles to the analysis of electoral statistics.

Until now, any data on voting results (by polling station, by territorial or district electoral commission, by region or for Russia as a whole) could be downloaded from the CEC website in Excel format.  There was also a less convenient, but fully acceptable option—to copy the data as an Excel table from the website into HTML [HyperText Markup Language] format.  This made it possible to analyse the electoral statistics quite quickly — both in order to identify errors in the final protocols of the election commissions, and for the purposes of political science research.

Now we have been deprived of such an opportunity.  The CEC website no longer provides data in Excel format.  And data in HTML format are codified in such a way that they cannot be copied into tabular format.

The CEC is effectively implementing the principle of limited openness: data are available for viewing, but not for computer processing.

In essence, this creates huge difficulties for electoral research.  We, political scientists and analysts, are being asked to go back to the 20th century, when all the numbers were entered manually.

This is a serious blow to political science, one of the most important elements of which is the analysis of electoral statistics.  A serious blow is also being dealt to the practical work involving the analysis of the previous elections, their representation in the mass media and to the preparation of new elections.

In addition to all of the above, it should be borne in mind that any attempts to impede research in the field of electoral statistics can be interpreted by the world scientific community solely as a desire to hide evidence of falsifications.

We hope that the creation of these obstacles can be attributed only to a lack of understanding on the part of the CEC leadership of the specifics of electoral studies, and not to a desire to destroy these studies altogether.

We ask you to take measures to restore the possibility of working with electoral statistics in accordance with the standards of the 21st century.

Signatories:

Maria Sergeevna Bainova, Ph.D. in Sociology, election district commission member with advisory vote

Ivan V. Bolshakov, member of Russian Academy of Political Sciences, Head of Analytical Department of Yabloko Party

Andrei Buzin, PhD in Physics and Mathematics, PhD in Law, a member of election commissions of different levels (from district commission to the CEC) in various years, a member of the Scientific-Methodical Advisory Council of the Russian Central Election Commission 2010-2015 and the Expert Council of the Russian Central Election Commission 2018-2020, a member of the Board of the Golos movement, included in the register of unregistered public associations performing the function of a foreign agent

Abbas Radikovich Gallyamov, PhD in Political Science, member of the Expert Council of the CEC of Russia 2018-2020

Vladimir Yakovlevich Gelman, Candidate of Political Science

Grigory Vasilievich Golosov, Doctor of Political Science, Dean of the Faculty of Political Science at the European University in St. Petersburg, member of the Expert Council of the CEC of Russia 2018-2020

Nikolai Grishin, Doctor of Political Science, member of the Expert Council of the CEC of Russia 2018-2020

Konstantin V. Kiselev, PhD, member of Russian Association for Public Relations, Ekaterinburg City Duma deputy

Vitaly Sergeevich Kovin, Ph.D. in History, member of the Expert Council under the CEC of Russia 2018-2020, member of the board of the Golos movement, included in the register of unregistered public associations performing the function of a foreign agent

Vladimir Nikolaevich Kozlov, Candidate of Geographical Sciences

Yury Grigorievich Korguniuk, PhD in Political Science, Leading Researcher at INION of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Head of the Research Committee for Comparative Studies of Party and Electoral Systems at the Russian Association of Political Science, Member of the Public Scientific and Methodological Advisory Council of the CEC of Russia 2010-2016

Aleksei Anatolievich Kurtov, president of the Russian Association of Political Consultants, member of the Expert Council of the CEC of Russia 2018-2020

Aleksander Kynev, PhD in Political Science, member of the Expert Council of the CEC of Russia 2018-2020

Elena Anatolievna Lukyanova, PhD, member of the Expert Council of the CEC of Russia 2018-2020, member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation 2010-2014

Arkady Efimovich Liubarev, PhD in law, member of the Expert Council of the CEC of Russia 2018-2020, member of the Board of “Golos” movement, included in the register of unregistered public associations performing the function of a foreign agent

Grigory Arkadyevich Melkonyants, member of the Expert Council of the CEC of Russia 2018-2020, co-chair of the Golos movement, included in the register of unregistered public associations performing the function of a foreign agent

Igor Evgenievich Mintusov, president of the European Association of Political Consultants, member of board of the Russian Association for Public Relations, member of the board of the Russian Association of Political Consultants, member of District Electoral Committee #144 with full voting status (Moscow), member of the Expert Council of the CEC of Russia 2018-2020

Evgeny Nikolaevich Minchenko, president of the Russian Association for Public Relations, member of the Expert Council of the CEC of Russia 2018-2020

Galina Mikhailovna Mikhailova, Doctor of Political Science, professor at Russian State University for the Humanities, member of the Expert Council of the CEC of Russia 2010-2016

Oleg Anatolievich Molchalov, deputy chair of the Expert Council of the Electoral Commission of Samara region

Boris Borisovich Nadezhdin, Candidate in Physical and Mathematical Sciences, deputy of the State Duma 1999-2003, member of the Expert Council of the CEC of Russia 2018-2020

Andrei Alekseevich Nechaev, Doctor of Economics, chair of the Civic Initiative party, Russian Minister of Economics 1992-1993

Dmitru Borisovich Oreshkin, Candidate in Geographical Sciences, member of the Expert Council of the CEC of Russia 2018-2020

Petr Vyacheslavovich Panov, Doctor of Political Science, department chair of political science at Perm State National Research University

Aleksandr Alekseevich Pozhalov, member of the Expert Council of the CEC of Russia 2018-2020

Stanislav Borisovich Radlevich, Doctor of Political Science, member of the Expert Council of the CEC of Russia 2018-2020

Stanislav Zbignievich Rachinsky, lawyer, member of the Expert Council of the CEC of Russia 2018-2020, member of the council of the League of Voters Foundation, included in the register of NGOs performing the function of a foreign agent

Aleksandr Yurievich Sungurov, Doctor of Political Science, member of the board of the Russian Association of Political Science, member of the Expert Council at the Committee on Education and Science of the State Duma, chair of Research Committee #26 on human rights at the International Political Science Association 2018-2021

Ilya Georgievich Shablinsky, Doctor of Legal Science, member of Moscow Helsinki Group, member of the Expert Council of the CEC of Russia 2018-2020, member of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights 2012-2019

Sergei Aleksandrovich Shpagin, Candidate in History, member of the Russian Association of Political Science, Research Committee for the Comparative Study of Party and Electoral Systems

Sergei Aleksandrovich Shpilkin, member of the Expert Council of the CEC of Russia 2018-2020

Ekaterina Mikhailovna Shulman, Candidate in Political Science, member of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights 2018-2019

Mikhail Viktorovich Titov, chair of the Electoral Commission of Tver Region 1996-2007

Grigory Vaipan, PhD in Law

Nikolai Ivanovich Vorobyev, PhD in law, corresponding member of the Russian Municipal Academy, chair of the Tambov Region Election Commission 1993-2003, member of the Scientific and Expert Council under the CEC of Russia 2018-2020

Translation by Elizabeth Teague and Alissa Rider