GOLOS Association

The GOLOS Association (Cyrillic: ГОЛОС, meaning "vote" or "voice") [ [http://golos.org/ The GOLOS Association's web site] ru icon, [http://golos.org/r69.html English articles] .] is a Russian civilian organization established in year 2000 to protect electoral rights of citizens and to foster civil society. As of 2008, the organization covers 40 Russian regions.

Since year 2002 GOLOS monitors elections and referendums of all levels.

In the March 2008 presidential election and accompanying local elections, GOLOS representatives found many irregularities, including the following. [ [http://golos.org/a1335.html STATEMENT # 3 OF GOLOS ASSOCIATION ON THE RESULTS OF SHORT-TERM MONITORING OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS ON MARCH 2, 2008] , The GOLOS Association, Moscow, March 3, 2008]
* incomplete combined protocols, as in 50% of polling stations in Ufa, Kostroma and Kursk;
* failure of electoral commissions to prevent voters from reusing their absentee ballots in Veliky Novgorod, Tomsk, Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Ufa;
* casting ballots by some voters on behalf of other people in Krasnodar, Vladimir, Kostroma;
* presence of government officials other than members of electoral commissions in Omsk, Adygea, Barnaul, Yekaterinburg, Yoshkar-Ola, Perm, Pskov.

The group publishes a newspaper "Grazhdansky Golos" (Civil Voice).

References