MOSCOW, June 25. /TASS/. The observation of the vote on the amendments to the Russian Constitution throughout Moscow’s medical facilities, even at COVID-19 clinics, is being organized with the participation of medical personnel from these hospitals, Deputy Chairman of the Moscow Civic Chamber Alexei Venediktov told the reporters on Thursday.
Earlier, Deputy Chairman of the Moscow City Election Commission Dmitry Reut told TASS that around 180 polling stations in the capital were organized at temporary locations, with the majority of them at medical facilities. These polling stations are also located in hospitals where patients with the coronavirus infection are being treated.
"The issues of how the voting at hospitals should be dealt with and how to go about monitoring the vote were discussed. Obviously, there a lot of places infected with coronavirus. The observers were ready to go there, and in Moscow there are 139 such sites at medical and non-COVID-19 [facilities], at hospitals and maternity clinics. Overall, there are 3,621 polls in Moscow. <...> the monitors could have been supplied with everything necessary, the observers themselves were ready, but at [the monitoring] headquarters we decided not to send the outside observers to the polls at medical facilities and maternity wards. If they have polling stations there, we suggested that the doctors and nurses should serve as the observers there," the official said.
He specified that observers were not dispatched to the polling stations located in medical institutions so as to prevent the spread of the infection.
"There is another category of polling stations — pre-trial detention centers. There our colleagues from the Public Monitoring Commission are assisting us. We are keeping in touch with them, and previous experience demonstrates that our colleagues from the commission are doing a great job and report to us on all the situations that unfold there. Everything is very well-organized there due to the specifics of the location," added Vadim Kovalev, first deputy head of the Public Center for Control and Monitoring of the All-Russian Vote, and the superintendent of the observers’ corps.
About the vote
The nationwide vote to amend the Russian Constitution started on Thursday, June 25 in all regions of Russia. The primary date to vote according to the decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin is July 1, but Russians can also cast their ballots during the week of June 25 to June 30. According to the directive of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation, the polls will be open from June 25 to July 1 from 8 am to 8 pm local time in all Russian regions, the vote count will take place after 8 pm local time on July 1 for all seven days of voting.
Initially, the vote on the amendments to the Constitution was set to take place on April 22, but it was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. On June 1, at a meeting with the Central Election Commission leadership and the members of the working group on the amendments, Putin supported the proposal to hold the vote on July 1, later signing the corresponding decree.
In addition to voting before the primary date (June 25-30), constituents can also cast ballots outside of polling stations (including outdoor areas), use contactless voting at home, or remote electronic voting for some regions, and cast ballots at one’s place of residence using the Mobile Voter application. Additionally, the residents of Moscow and the Nizhny Novgorod region on June 5-21 applied to cast their electronic ballots remotely. The Central Election Commission accepted over 1 mln applications from Muscovites and over 140,000 from Nizhny Novgorod residents. The remote electronic vote will be held June 25-30.