As you may recall, Ella Pamfilova became head of the Central Election Commission (CEC) essentially in response to a crisis over regional elections that arose because we, using the PARNAS party label, decided to take part in regional campaigns in four regions.
In three of them, we were barred from participating; in the fourth, we were allowed in, but only three weeks before the election, when it was already impossible to run a real campaign.
The biggest scandal erupted in Novosibirsk Region, where we would have been guaranteed to form a faction in the regional legislative assembly. There was even a special campaign for the public collection of flawless signatures.
But of course they couldn't possibly let us in: imagine that, some deputies might appear who would start asking brazen questions about corruption! So they kicked us off the ballot through sheer lawlessness.
That was when the whole country learned the story of Darya Timurovich and a new technique for removing candidates from elections. So-called "experts from the Federal Migration Service (UFMS)" would examine signatures and declare that some people's data "did not match the database."
We analyzed the "UFMS report" and found hundreds of examples showing that the supposedly "inaccurate data" appeared simply because election commission staff had entered it incorrectly into the system when transferring it from paper signature sheets. Naturally, the incorrect data could not be found in the UFMS database. But the election commission would declare: we trust the UFMS report. The signature was thrown out.
It all looked so outrageous that six people from the campaign headquarters even went on a hunger strike.
The election went ahead without our party list, with minimal turnout and an unprecedentedly high number of spoiled ballots.
Once again, there was widespread talk that there was no point in going to the polls.
A few months later, Ella Pamfilova was appointed to the CEC, where she was supposed to project "new approaches."
And we also won in the Constitutional Court, which ruled that signatures could not be invalidated in this way.
Why am I bringing all this up?
Here is a video address from Sergei Boyko, who is running in a by-election for a seat in the Novosibirsk Region legislative assembly.
The same Boyko who was barred last time. Who took part in the hunger strike. Who was one of the main organizers of the successful rallies against utility rate hikes in Novosibirsk. And who therefore has a strong chance of winning — he actually helped people and prevented the rates from being raised.
And today Boyko is being removed from the election using exactly the same scheme. Through Darya Timurovich. In other words, once again, "UFMS experts" are saying that real documents belonging to real people "do not match the database."
From 2:04 in the video, Boyko simply brings in these people, and they say: here we are, we exist, we're alive. How the hell else is he supposed to prove he's right?
How are you even supposed to collect signatures? You take a person's passport and copy down the details. And then later you're told: "The UFMS says they're wrong, this person's name isn't Kolya but Petya, no matter what it says in his passport."
I'm deliberately posting Boyko's appeal on my own platform so that Ella Pamfilova can't pretend she didn't notice it. She should make some kind of statement, disband the Novosibirsk election commission to hell, and make sure Boyko finally becomes a candidate.
Please help me spread the word about this and share Sergei's video.
Either the CEC responds to this, or we rename Ella Alexandrovna Darya Timurovich.