One FULL Meter: The Candidate List for the Russian Elections Is Loooong

The Central Election Commission has approved the ballot for the election in March 2018. The names of the candidates are arranged in alphabetical order, they are supposed to fit on two A4 sheets. The color of the ink has been determined too.

The Central Election Commission has approved the ballot for the election in March 2018. The names of the candidates are arranged in alphabetical order, they are supposed to fit on two A4 sheets. The color of the ink has been determined too.

Alexei Konopko has the details.

 

Boris Titov's package of documents has been successfully submitted, while Irina Gagite has quit the race. A soprano singer of the Mariinsky Theater and Honored Artist of North Ossetia followed the recommendations of the Central Election Commission which detected violations in her documents. There remain 19 possible candidates.

70 people wanted to run for the presidency, 36 of them applied, but only 20 had their documents accepted. Given that today one dropped out, there remain 19. This is the number of candidates that will form ballot. It may be 1m long if all of the 19 people are registered.

It's also known to be greenish, as the security marks on the ballot will be green. The ballots will be printed out not only in Russian but possibly in the languages of ethnic minorities and official languages of the republics. In Crimea, it can be both Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar languages. 111,5 million papers will have been printed out by March 7.

Ella Pamfilova, the head of CEC: "The minimum format is A4, the maximum is twice the length and width of A4. Anyway, there can be no more than 19 candidates on the ballot in the presidential election".

Only 2 men have been officially registered so far, Grudinin of CPRF and Zhirinovsky of LDPR.

By the way, today Vladimir Volfovich met with those studying to become journalists. The discussion covered also eloquence and the information war. They couldn't but touch upon last year's topic relating to the political life too, which is sexual harassment. In Britain, for example, it's already affected the political elite setup.

Vladimir Zhirinovsky: "There are 2 positions today. While the US women got insulted for being treated too harshly, in France, they said it's only courtship. Where's the line between courtship and harassment? How are you going to date a young man? Anyway, he'll have to approach you to inquire your name, or you'll have to dance with him, or go out, to the cinema, for example. He'll take your hand, he'll embrace you when you are falling while skating. Will that be harassment? Where is the difference?"

A student: "I'll show you. If you do like this, it's about harassment. And if we get to know each other, find common ground, I offer you to talk to me and do the same, it won't be harassment".

Vladimir Zhirinovsky: Right you are.

The Central and precinct election commissions continue to technically prepare for the election. Today the President gave several tasks to the CEC, including ensuring the free access to the physically challenged voters. Though, central is the voting procedure in the booths. People are always eager to help blind or deaf people, but it's impossible to do in the voting booth. A voter must be alone there.

Nikolai Levichev, CEC member: "We recommended using special voting booths to enable the wheelchair users, hearing impaired and optically challenged people to make their choice on their own without the outsiders' help".

Alexei Konopko, Andrey Ganykin, Semyon Shapchenko, and Darya Chernikhovskaya for Vesti