Low turnout reported for Duma elections in ChechnyaTimur Aliyev, Grozny - Voter turnout in the elections of Chechnya's deputy to the State Duma of the Russian Federation was quite low, as our Prague Watchdog correspondent learned from monitors stationed at polling booths on behalf of the candidates and parties.
"Roughly 200 voters, about 10 percent, came to our booth, so I really don't know where the [official turnout of ] 70 percent came from," said Ruslan Khadashev, who worked at Precinct 369 on behalf of Salambek Maigov, one of the candidates.
"There were no voting violations, but voters were few," said Zhalaudi Rasayev, who represented candidate Alaudi Musayev at Precinct 384.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Chechen Election Commission Abdul-Kerim Arsakhanov announced that according to preliminary figures, 70 percent of eligible Chechen voters took part in the elections.
The secret of the "successful voting numbers" was privately revealed to our PW correspondent by one of the local election commission members, saying that the powers-that-be ordered them to "ensure a turnout of 85 percent." And in addition, stated the commission member, who preferred to remain anonymous, one of the candidates, Akhmar Zavgayev, Chechnya's deputy to Russia's upper chamber, was to become the winner from among individual candidates as was United Russia (Yedinaya Rossiya) from among parties.
"We filled in about fifty percent of ballots in support of them in advance and during the day were gradually throwing them into ballot boxes," he said.
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