September 2018 Primorsky Krai gubernatorial election

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September 2018 Primorsky Krai gubernatorial election
← 2014 9–16 September 2018 December 2018 →
Turnout30.23% (1st round)
35.43% (2nd round)
 
Andrey Tarasenko (2018-07-04) cropped.jpg
Андрей Ищенко на митинге против фальсификации выборов, Владивосток, 2018-09-17 (cropped).jpg
Candidate Andrey Tarasenko Andrey Ishchenko
Party United Russia Communist
Popular vote 253,200 245,550
Percentage 49.55% 48.06%
Governor before election

Andrey Tarasenko
United Russia

Elected Governor

Election results annulled
Oleg Kozhemyako becomes acting governor

The Primorsky Krai gubernatorial election was held on 9–16 September 2018.

In the first round, held on 9 September (which was the common election day in Russia), none of the candidates received an absolute majority. The candidates proceeding to the second round, scheduled for 16 September, were incumbent Acting Governor Andrey Tarasenko, nominated by the United Russia, and Andrey Ishchenko, nominated by the Communist Party.[1]

The second round of election was subject to public protest due to perceived inconsistencies in the counting of votes. During most of the counting, Ishchenko was in the lead by a margin of around 5%. However, after 95% of votes had been counted, Tarasenko began to gain ground. By 99% counted, he had gained a lead over Ishchenko.[2] The official final results indicated Tarasenko had won with 49.55% of votes to Ishchenko's 48.06%, a margin of 7,650 votes.[3]

The sudden shift in the results triggered accusations of electoral fraud, and the Central Electoral Commissions sent representatives to Primorsky Krai to review the situation. On 19 September, they recommended invalidating the election results.[4] On 20 September, the Regional Election Commission followed this recommendation and officially invalidated the results, leading to a new election held in December.[5]

Previous events

Previous gubernatorial election in Primorsky Krai were held on 14 September 2014, Vladimir Miklushevsky was elected as Governor. On 4 October 2017, he resigned, and Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed Andrey Tarasenko as Acting Governor.[6][7]

Candidates

Five candidates were registered to participate in the election[8]

Candidate Party Office
Andrey Andreychenko Liberal Democratic Party Member of the State Duma
Andrey Ishchenko Communist Party Member of the Legislative Assembly of Primorsky Krai
Alexey Kozitsky
A Just Russia
 Member of the Legislative Assembly of Primorsky Krai
Andrey Tarasenko United Russia Incumbent Acting Governor
Yulia Tolmacheva Party of Pensioners Member of the Legislative Assembly of Primorsky Krai

Background

Three months before these elections, in June 2018, the

government of Russia announced the very unpopular pension reform presuming a gradual increase in the retirement age by five years.[9] The planned reform has provoked countrywide protests. For this reason, the elections proceeded on a background of an aversion to the governmental party “United Russia
” (which was the only party in the parliament supporting the reform) as to the betrayers.

In the second round, the anti-reform forces were consolidated around Ishchenko as a person not belonging to that party. So, despite Tarasenko has unequivocally won the first round, Ishchenko succeeded in obtaining a comparable number of votes in the second round.

Results

The results of the first (left) and second (right) rounds by territorial election commissions.
  Andrey Tarasenko
  Andrey Ishchenko
Summary of the 9 and 16 September 2018 Primorsky Krai gubernatorial election results
Candidate Party 1st round 2nd round
Votes % Votes %
Andrey Tarasenko United Russia UR 206,300 46.56 253,200 49.55
Andrey Ishchenko Communist Party CPRF 109,129 24.63 245,550 48.06
Yulia Tolmacheva Party of Pensioners RPPSJ 47,832 10.80
Andrey Andreychenko Liberal Democratic Party LDPR 41,066 9.27
Alexey Kozitsky
A Just Russia
 JR 21,416 4.83
Total 425,743 100.00 498,750 100.00
Valid votes 425,743 96.09 498,750 97.61
Blank ballots 17,306 3.91 12,198 2.39
Turnout 443,049 30.23 510,948 35.43
Registered voters 1,465,538 1,442,328

Official results published by the Primorsky Krai Electoral Commission [10][11]

Exit polls on the day of the second round have also shown a victory of Tarasenko.

Poll source Tarasenko Ishchenko
KC Expert-group 53% 47%

Fairness of election

Andrey Ishchenko at a rally against rigging the election results near the building of the Government of Primorsky Krai

After counting 95% of the protocols of the second round, the candidate from the Communist party Ishchenko won by a significant margin — 51.6% against 45.8%. After processing 99% of the protocols, the ratio changed in favor of the incumbent Acting Governor Andrey Tarasenko — 49.02% against 48.56%. In particular, according to the CEC website, if we compare the results after processing 98.77% of the protocols and after processing 99.03% of the protocols, the results of Ishchenko fell by 5 votes, and Tarasenko grew by 13,595 votes.[12][13]

Representatives of the Communist party announced massive fraud in favor of Tarasenko in the vote count. Andrey Ishchenko declared falsifications in the cities Vladivostok, Artyom, Nakhodka and Ussuriysk and declared hunger strike. In addition, 13 protocols are still being held and not published in one of the districts of Vladivostok. In turn, the election headquarters of Andrey Tarasenko accused rivals of bribing voters.[14][15][16]

On the night after the elections, during the counting of votes in the Territorial Election Commission of the Sovetsky district of Vladivostok (it is located in the building of the district administration), firefighters broke in. They said there was a call, that the fire alarm went off. They demanded that members of the electoral commission and observers leave the polling station. At the same time, there was no smoke or other traces of fire in the building. Members of the electoral commission were forced to leave the building, leaving the electoral documents. Subsequently, on 18 September, the Regional Election Commission canceled the results of voting at 12 polling stations accountable to the Sovetsky district Territorial Election Commission.[17] A similar situation has developed in other cities of Primorye. For example, the Territorial Election Commission building of the Ussuriysk urban district was cordoned off by police officers. When the member of Legislative Assembly of Primorsky Krai Anatoly Dolgachev and member of the State Duma Yury Afonin tried to get there, they were told that it is impossible, as "the lock is broken".[18]

Annulation of the results

On 17 September, Chairwoman of the Central Election Commission Ella Pamfilova asked the candidates to provide the CEC with materials on possible violations and said that the results of the election will not be approved until the CEC examines all complaints.[19]

On 19 September in Primorsky Krai came to a special commission of the CEC to verify complaints of violations in the election.[20]

Since the election of the Governor is within the jurisdiction of the Regional Election Commission (REC), the Central Election Commission cannot influence them, but it can make recommendations to the REC. On 19 September, the CEC unanimously recommended to recognize the results of the gubernatorial election invalid.[21][22] The final decision of annulation was accordingly taken by the Regional Election Commission on 20 September.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ Второй тур выборов в Приморье пройдет 16 сентября
  2. ^ O. Carroll (2018-09-17). "'Miraculous' election win for Kremlin-backed candidate causes protests in Russia's far-east". The Independent. Retrieved 2018-09-18.
  3. Ведомости
    . 2018-09-18. Retrieved 2018-09-18.
  4. ^ "Russian officials call for governor's suspicious election to be annulled". The Guardian. 2018-09-19. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
  5. ^ a b "Russian Election Authorities Annul Results Of Fraud-Marred Regional Vote". RFL/RL. 2018-09-20. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
  6. ^ "Миклушевский победил на выборах главы Приморья". RIA. 2014-09-16. Archived from the original on 2014-10-07. Retrieved 2018-09-17.
  7. ^ "Встреча с Андреем Тарасенко". Kremlin.ru (in Russian). 2017-10-04. Archived from the original on 2018-01-08. Retrieved 2017-12-28.
  8. ^ Сведения о кандидатах. Досрочные выборы Губернатора Приморского края
  9. ^ A. Biryukov, A. Andrianovа (2018-06-14). "World Cup gives Russia cover for unpopular pension-age increase". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2018-06-17.
  10. ^ 1st round result
  11. ^ 2nd round result
  12. ^ "Выборы высших должностных лиц субъектов Российской Федерации". www.cikrf.ru. Retrieved 2018-09-17.
  13. ^ Михаил Соколов. "Кремль украл победу?" (in Russian). Радио Свобода. Retrieved 2018-09-17.
  14. ^ "Кандидат от КПРФ выигрывал выборы в Приморье после обработки 95% голосов с разницей в пять процентов. А после обработки 99% — проигрывает". Meduza. 2018-09-17. Retrieved 2018-09-17.
  15. ^ Ищенко сообщил о подаче исков по возможным нарушениям на выборах в Приморье
  16. ^ "Ищенко заявил о намерении обжаловать итоги выборов в Приморье на четырех территориях". TASS. 2018-09-17. Retrieved 2018-09-17.
  17. ^ Выборы губернатора Приморья: во Владивостоке итоги голосования на 12 участках отменили из-за пожарных
  18. ^ Здание ТИК Уссурийска блокировала полиция
  19. ^ "ЦИК после изучения жалоб из Приморья составит рекомендации для краевого избиркома". TASS. 2018-09-17. Retrieved 2018-09-17.
  20. ^ В Приморье прибыла комиссия ЦИК
  21. ^ ЦИК рекомендовал признать итоги выборов главы Приморья недействительными
  22. ^ Решение по итогам выборов примет избирком Приморья, заявила комиссия ЦИК
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