Chechen residents complain about “carousel voting” in elections

In Chechnya, teachers and doctors voted many times against their will at different polling stations, residents of the republic reported. They pointed out the passive attitude of many of their acquaintances to the elections.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on September 17-19, Chechnya held the voting in the elections to the State Duma, as well as elections for the leader of the republic, elections to the parliament and the City Duma of Grozny. According to the Central Election Commission (CEC), Ramzan Kadyrov won 99.7% of the votes, thus breaking his 2016 record.

The official information indicates a decline in interest in the elections in Chechnya. While in 2016, 96.29% of voters came to the elections, then in 2021, only 93.37% voted. Meanwhile, before the elections, in contradiction to the federal law, not only officials, but also religious figures campaigned for Ramzan Kadyrov. During the three-day voting, many Chechen residents, mostly civil servants, wrote posts on social media demonstrating their support for Kadyrov.

Instead of voting, residents of a village within the boundaries of Grozny organized a “belkhi”, an action to help those in need of solving economic problems. They started major repairs in the house of a widow with many children, local resident Musa said.

According to him, none of his relatives and friends took part in the voting because of the disappointment in the elections.

Several public sector employees spoke about the forced participation in “carousel voting.” For example, Razet, a teacher from Urus-Martan, visited polling stations together with her colleagues and threw ballots into ballot boxes.

Doctor Timur also said that he together with a group of public sector employees visited polling stations in Grozny. Each of them was throwing several ballots into ballot boxes.

Both of Ramzan Kadyrov’s rivals in the elections did not campaign and even feared to receive support from voters, an author of the blog “Chechnya Inside” on the “Caucasian Knot” suggested.