Golos (election monitor)
| Founded | 2000 |
|---|---|
| Type | Non-profit NGO |
| Location |
|
| Fields | Observations of elections and referendums |
| Website | www.golos.org |
The GOLOS Association (Cyrillic: ГОЛОС, meaning "vote" or "voice")[1] is a Russian civilian organization established in 2000 to protect the electoral rights of citizens and to foster civil society. As of 2008, the organization covers 40 Russian regions. It is the only independent election watchdog active in Russia.[2]
Activities
Since 2002 GOLOS has monitored elections and referendums of all levels.
In the March 2008 presidential election and accompanying local elections, GOLOS representatives found many irregularities, including the following.[3]
- incomplete combined protocols, as in 50% of polling stations in Ufa, Kostroma and Kursk;
- failure of electoral commissions to prevent voters from reusing their absentee ballots in Veliky Novgorod, Tomsk, Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Ufa;
- casting ballots by some voters on behalf of other people in Krasnodar, Vladimir, Kostroma;
- presence of government officials other than members of electoral commissions in Omsk, Adygea, Barnaul, Yekaterinburg, Yoshkar-Ola, Perm, Pskov.
The group publishes a newspaper Grazhdansky Golos (Civil Voice).
The Telegraph describes Golos as being "one of the few organisations able to catalogue and publicise [the Kremlin's] attempts at fraud and intimidation".[2]
Recent incidents
After officially interviewing GOLOS Association on November 25 and 26, 2011 NTV representatives (a major Russian television broadcaster), on November 26, 2011 three men entered a room where the organisation conducted an internal training, and accused GOLOS of coopetation with CIA and such.[citation needed] Two days later, on November 28 two NTV representatives entered the headquarters of the organisation while GOLOS spokesmen were giving a press conference at an independent press-centre.[citation needed] GOLOS representatives suggested that the men should go and instead take part in the official press session, but the journalists repeated similar accusations as two days before.[citation needed] This incident was recorded on a mobile phone and the video is available on youtube, showing a GOLOS director constantly repeating that it was a provocation instead of answering any questions.[citation needed]
On the 2nd December NTV has shown an investigative documentary film, "Голос ниоткуда" (Golos niotkuda, translated as "Voice from nowhere" or "Vote from nowhere"), in which the GOLOS Association was accused in making propaganda payed by the foreign money, in particular from the United States.[4]
Prosecution
On 1 December 2011 prosecutors in Moscow served Golos with papers alleging the organisation had portrayed an unnamed political party in a bad light. The unnamed party has been identified as being United Russia.[2] Elections are due to take place on 4 December 2011.[2]
On 2 November a Moscow court fined Golos 30 000 roubles (about 1000 USD) for violations of the electoral law of Russia.[4]
External links
- Electoral Code of the Russian Federation, proposed and developed by GOLOS.
- NTV journalists at GOLOS headquarters on November 28, 2011
- GOLOS website
References
- ^ The GOLOS Association's web siteTemplate:Ru icon, English articles.
- ^ a b c d Kremlin accused of silencing Russia's independent election watchdog, Telegraph, retrieved 1/12/2011
- ^ STATEMENT # 3 OF GOLOS ASSOCIATION ON THE RESULTS OF SHORT-TERM MONITORING OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS ON MARCH 2, 2008, The GOLOS Association, Moscow, March 3, 2008
- ^ a b Суд оштрафовал ассоциацию "Голос" Lenta.ru Template:Ru icon