Photo: Natalia Muschinkina
The move itself is very important vote: the work of observers, there were or were not significant cases of violations – all this affects the perception of elections. The perception of the election process begins to take shape by the end of the first day of voting and, of course, affects the motivation of voters, because after all, the majority will vote on Sunday. And Friday and Saturday are changing in this situation in the next phase of the campaign, linked to the way voting is already taking place.
In this campaign, participation in polls, ie the number of people who answer that they will definitely go and prefer to go, began to grow a few weeks before election day. This was evident in the way people were indirectly interested in the possibility of voting at a distance and, if possible, in how they could vote on weekdays to relax at the weekend. Of course, as a result of the three-day voting course, turnout is growing in itself, and secondly, people's readiness to vote and go to the polls is growing precisely as the number of opportunities to do so expands.
A large part of the information campaign is, of course, devoted to the legitimacy and purity of the process in relation to all innovations. What are secure packages, how does electronic voting work? This means that all these new forms have given much room for maneuver and credibility in the process. It's a fact. That means it's convenient – yes, but it required the system to make a number of additional efforts to protect the process in different senses.
Of course, for people who are afraid of infection, the three-day voting process is, after all, another motive. We understand that they will not stand in the ranks and crowds.
Alexey Chadayev – Director of the Institute for the Development of Parliamentaryism