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English Language Page Sergey Shimovolos, Nizhnii Novgorod Society for Human Rights On the territory of the Shali district, 27 election centers were opened, two of which were special polling stations for servicemen. Situation On the 4–5 October 2003, all accesses to the election centres were blocked, including the polling place #284 situated in the school #9. In the Avtury village, entries to three constituencies were blocked with concrete blocks and logs. The chief guard ordered all unknown people to stop. On the night of the 5, at 1.40 a.m., the constituency #281 located in the school #6 of the Shali town was set on fire from automatic rifles and shell-firing weapons, and at 3.00 a.m.— the constituency #279 located in the school #4 in the town of Shali. Agitation On the premises of the constituency #280 situated in the school #5 of Shali and on the premises of the constituency situated in the administration office of the Avtury settlement, there were posters on the walls calling to support Akhmat Kadyrov. Besides that, Kadyrov propaganda posters were displayed on the walls of the administration building of the Shali district, where the district election commission was located, as well as in the administration buildings. Pretend Voting In the constituency #284 located in the school #3 of the Shali town one voter could receive several ballots. Additional ballots were given to voters after they had shown the passport of their relatives or neighbors who had not come to the polling station themselves. There could be registered seventeen “additional” ballots handed out from 10 a.m till 11 a.m. The same practice was observed in the constituency #278 situated of the Shali town as well as in the constituencies situated in the school #1 of the Artury village. Constituencies’ Closure For security reasons some constituencies, including in the Shail town, were closed down several hours before the officially stipulated time. The same is true for the villages such as Duba-Yurt and Chiri-Yurt. At 6.30 p.m., the Ashty village polling station was shut down (on the road to the village, a truck was discovered); at 6.40. p.m. in the Germentchuk village (constituency #279) some voters came to the polls at 19.30 p.m. and were chased away. Ballot Count All ballots from the constituencies that closed earlier than the official time were transported under the supervision of the Ministry of the Internal Affairs to the Shali district election commission, which shares the same premise with the Shali district administration. Representatives of the precinct election commissions — Chair, Deputy Chair and Secretary — were brought together with ballots. After interacting with the representatives of the election commissions I found out that these rules concerned the most of the precinct election commissions of the Shali district. Between 9 p.m. and midnight, representatives of the precinct election commissions were kept in a separate part of the administration building. It was impossible to communicate with them because they were under maximum security provided by robust armed guards. In the meantime, the representatives of the commissions were busily composing protocols and consulting the Chair of the Shali district commission as well as the head of the Shali district administration about filling in forms and leveling protocol numbers. The precinct election commissions were not complete in their staff numbers during the counting process and observers were not present at all. In this regard, one can conclude that the signatures of all commission members on the district commission protocol were set in advance. In the Shali district commission I saw a signed protocol without notified ballot results for single candidates. Back |
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