Sochi residents claim aggressive agitation and formality of voting to amend Constitution

In Sochi, a persistent campaign for the approval of amendments to the Constitution of Russia has been launched, while there are actually no control and monitoring of the voting procedure, claim residents of the city interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, set July 1, 2020, as the voting date on constitutional amendments.

"[Enhanced] campaign is underway, and it is reaching the point of absurdity. The campaign resorts to giant posters, attracting cultural figures, and an extremely simplified voting procedure of, a weekly voting," reported Iren Ilyenkova, the leader of the Krasnodar branch of the "Yabloko" Party.

Advocate Sergey Kostyuk also claims that the ongoing reporting about the all-Russian voting is an agitation for the adoption of the amendments to the Russian Constitution. "For example, the public services website posts an announcement of the following content: '... filing an application for inclusion in a list ... on the issue to approve the amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation.' The word 'approve' is generally inappropriate here and is misleading. It's a kind of pressure on a person to 'approve' the constitutional amendments. And if a person does not want to approve the amendments, then it turns out that he or she should not vote at all?" advocate Sergey Kostyuk expressed his indignation.

In the face of the financial difficulties, local residents do not have the opportunity to examine the amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, believes Sergey Bernosovsky, a member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF). "No debates, no discussions, no examinations or interpretation of the amendments ever took place, but they simply suggest the people are to accept the amendments as a combined set [...] People are simply not aware of what they are voting for," Sergey Bernosovsky claimed.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 26, 2020 at 01:16 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.