MOSCOW, July 31. /TASS/: The head of Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC), Ella Pamfilova, said on Wednesday she discussed the ongoing election campaign, including in Moscow, with Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland.
"I informed him in detail about our stance on the election situation so that he could have the entire picture," Pamfilova told the Central Election Commission’s meeting on Wednesday.
According to Pamfilova, Jagland has "great opportunities to receive information from different sources." "We have had years-long cooperation when I was involved in human rights activity … and he [Jagland] considered it important to listen to my opinion as the CEC head," she said.
Earlier, Jagland announced plans to discuss the situation around unregistered candidates to Moscow’s City Duma (legislative body) with Pamfilova. He said in a statement published on the organization’s website that "all legitimate candidates should be allowed to participate and free and fair elections must be guaranteed" and "as a member state of the Council of Europe Russia needs to respect European standards in the electoral process."
Elections to the Moscow City Duma will be held on September 8.
On July 27, an unauthorized rally in support of the unregistered candidates was held in central Moscow. More than 1,000 protesters were detained, of whom 600, according to the police, were not Muscovites. By police information, more than 3,500 people took part in the rally.
Pamfilova has stated many times that unregistered candidates could challenge the decision of the Moscow City Election Commission with Russia's CEC and also file a lawsuit. She pledged that the CEC was ready to carry out thorough checks into alleged violations during the candidates’ registration process.
Over 5,000 elections at different levels, including to 13 legislative assemblies, will take place in 85 Russian regions on September 8. Governors will be elected directly in 16 regions, city councils will be elected in 22 administrative centers and heads of municipalities will be elected in three regional capitals. Elections to the State Duma will be held in four single-mandate districts (the Khabarovsk, Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Oryol regions).
