Russian election observer loses consciousness during arrest by police, opposition party says

Russia’s liberal opposition Yabloko party said that one of its election observers lost consciousness while being arrested by police at a St. Petersburg polling station on Saturday, the second day of a tightly controlled parliamentary election.The voting to elect members of the State Duma is Russia's first parliamentary election since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. The three-day election, which began Friday and ends Sunday, features virtually no opposition and is all but certain to secure the Kremlin’s political dominance.Yabloko said that officials at the polling station accused a party election observer of attempting to “disrupt the elections” and called the police, which “used force” against him.It was unclear whether he received prompt medical attention after falling unconscious, the party said in a statement on Telegram Saturday, adding that he was taken to a police station and charged with disobeying police orders.Russian officials didn't immediately comment on the incident.Yabloko, the only registered political entity that dared to criticize Russia's war with Ukraine, was removed from the ballot last month by Russia’s Supreme Court, and only has a few dozen candidates in the single-constituency races.

Additionally, some anti-war politicians have been imprisoned or forced to flee abroad before the campaign.Yabloko and the Communist Party, which has criticized some aspects of government policy but carefully avoided any criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said that many of their election observers were turned away from polling stations.On Friday, Yabloko’s leader appealed to Ella Pamfilova, head of the Central Election Commission, over what the party said were numerous denials of entry to its observers and pressure on them.“The scale of what’s happening does not allow us to view this as a misunderstanding,” Yabloko chairman Nikolai Rybakov said.Russia didn't invite observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to monitor the election, with the Russian Foreign Ministry accusing the body of “double standards” for its criticism of Russia.It said that it had invited other international organizations, as well as observers from OSCE member states, in its place.OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Pere Joan Pons said that the decision was a breach of Russia’s commitments as a member state … The voting to elect members of the State Duma is Russia's first parliamentary election since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Yabloko said that officials at the polling station accused a party election observer of attempting to “disrupt the elections” and called the police, which “used force” against him.

It was unclear whether he received prompt medical attention after falling unconscious, the party said in a statement on Telegram Saturday, adding that he was taken to a police station and charged with disobeying police orders. Russian officials didn’t immediately comment on the incident. Yabloko, the only registered political entity that dared to criticize Russia’s war with Ukraine, was removed from the ballot last month by Russia’s Supreme Court, and only has a few dozen candidates in the single-constituency races.

Yabloko and the Communist Party, which has criticized some aspects of government policy but carefully avoided any criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said that many of their election observers were turned away from polling stations. On Friday, Yabloko’s leader appealed to Ella Pamfilova, head of the Central Election Commission, over what the party said were numerous denials of entry to its observers and pressure on them. “The scale of what’s happening does not allow us to view this as a misunderstanding,” Yabloko chairman Nikolai Rybakov said.

Russia didn’t invite observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to monitor the election, with the Russian Foreign Ministry accusing the body of “double standards” for its criticism of Russia. It said that it had invited other international organizations, as well as observers from OSCE member states, in its place. OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Pere Joan Pons said that the decision was a breach of Russia’s commitments as a me…