Russian blogger and anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny (pictured here) has launched a new initiative aiming at curbing fraud in the next presidential election, to take place on March 4th. The project, entitled RosVybory, seeks to recruit voluntary monitors for the precints where violations were already uncovered in the last parliamentary elections on December 4th.
According to Russian electoral law, monitors must be linked to one of candidates or parties running. Therefore, Navalny is seeking support from the Communist party, the Just Russia party and independent candidates, to which the monitors recruited through the project could be associated. According to Rosvybory coordinator Georgy Alburov, these parties should be interested in supporting the project, as they don’t have enough monitors and are concerned about guaranteeing fair elections.
The website rosvybory.org (in Russian) already has over 13,000 poeple registered as monitors. All participants will undergo training on how to prevent and identify violations. They will also be taught on how to use cameras and document violations they might uncover.
Read the full story “Monitor that!” on themoscownews.com. The picture of Mr. Navalny above is featured in the article and is credited to RIA Novosti.
