Poll: Half of Russians think there will be voting violations in the upcoming Duma elections
According to a poll conducted by Levada-Center, more than half of respondents believe that there will be voting violations at the upcoming State Duma elections. Half of those respondents believe that those violations will affect the results of the elections.
Almost a quarter of Russians (23%) are ready to sell their votes at the State Duma elections. Of those, 11% said they would sell their votes for RUB 5,000 and another 5% for a greater sum of money. This is evidenced by the results of the poll conducted by Levada-Center, a non-governmental polling and sociological research organization, and published on their website on August 22.
Two-thirds of respondents (63%) stated that they wouldn’t sell their votes for any amount of money. Respondents who found difficulty in replying to the question made up 14%. More than half of Russians (51%) believe that there will be voting violations at the upcoming State Duma elections.
Of those who believe that violations will take place, 21% named vote-rigging by the local electoral committees as a possible violation; 18% said privileges could be granted for the ruling party during the election campaign; 15% said authorities could buy votes; and 11% said the opposition could buy votes. The respondents who expressed confidence that there will be no violations in the elections comprised 22%. An additional 27% didn’t answer the question.
The Russians who believe the Central Election Commission participates in vote-rigging make up 13% while more than half of respondents (53%) trust the Central Election Commission and the Russian system of electoral committees as a whole.
Those who don’t trust these institutions comprise 35% of respondents. Respondents who found difficulty in replying to the question made up 13%. Of respondents who believe that voting violations will take place, 54% believe that they will significantly affect the results of the elections.
An additional 35% of respondents think that the influence of voting violations will be minor and 5% believe that violations won’t affect the results of the elections at all. Levada-Center conducted the survey between August 5 and August 8. The respondents were 1,600 people at least 18 years old from 137 settlements in 48 regions of the Russian Federation.