MOSCOW, October 7. /TASS/. Schemes to sway Russia’s electoral process are becoming more sophisticated every year, but the September elections demonstrated that provocations targeting Russian society have failed miserably, Federation Council Chairperson Valentina Matvienko reported on Thursday.
"I cannot turn a blind eye to the efforts aimed at influencing the expression of will in our country. Every year they are becoming increasingly more sophisticated. This time around, even the European Parliament’s resolutions were used in an effort to whip up negativity in our society towards the election campaign," Matvienko pointed out.
"As the results of the vote demonstrated, our citizens understand perfectly well that such provocations do not work in our society. Of course, people have long ago learned to separate the wheat from the chaff," she continued.
According to the upper house speaker, the key weapons to thwarting interference and provocations are full transparency and the openness of the elections, which the Russian authorities ensured largely thanks to public monitoring. "This institution, of course, needs to be further cultivated," she stressed.
The chairperson of the upper house recalled that observers of the Russian Civic Chamber and regional ones worked on the presidential elections in 2018, and then during the voting on amendments to the Constitution. "Today, we can say that the institution of social monitoring in our country has already taken its roots and has become a crucial element of the entire electoral process. The figures speak for themselves. About 500,000 observers were present at polling stations on September 17-19," she stated.
The election to the 8th State Duma took place on September 17-19.