Russia and its democratic process for a New Constitution
The Russian Federation has started a historic process that will have a final citizen and democratic ‘stamp on it’, on July 1, 2020. It is a series of constitutional amendments already approved in March by the Constitutional Commission, and which are now subject to scrutiny by the Russian people with the options Da (Yes) or Niet (No).
The election began on June 25, and it will last a week, as a measure to protect the population in the midst of the global pandemic of Covid-19, in turn enabling the possibility of electronic voting from home.
Asked about it, the international electoral observer, Libertad Velasco, pointed out that “the most original thing is to transcend the barrier of one day to vote, since it places human rights, health and voting at the same level of importance”.
Each voting location has, on average, a maximum of two polling stations. And each location has all the security measures for voters. Mask kits and gloves for those who do not have them, alcohol gel and marks on the floor so as to maintain social distance. In turn, the ‘booth’ to mark the vote is disinfected several times a day.
Henrique Domingues, international observer of the russian electoral process, pointed out that “there are many possibilities for people to vote. Sometimes in countries like mine, (Brazil), registration is complex, like changing your polling place but here the system is designed for the voter”, he said.
It should be highlighted that the managers of the polling places have been trained and certified to ensure high transparency of the process and care of the health of voters. Each location has surveillance cameras to protect the civic act, which are accessed and remotely controlled, so as to evaluate any irregularity.
The urns can be seen properly sealed. The electoral registration book is printed by the electoral body and delivered to each polling station, with the names and identification number of the people in charge of the local process. The names of those who preferred to register for electronic voting have been crossed out of the electoral registration book, so that a double vote does not occur. And at each polling station, there is police security.
At the same time, it is worth noting that for each local voting station, which are generally schools, there is a team of people who go to visit the homes of the elderly, or invalids, who previously registered to vote from home.
Velasco added “I am struck by the training of operators who work at the tables, the way they express themselves to explain the process demonstrates a high level of preparation. As well as that in all the visited polling centers, people have expressed that the electronic vote seems to them as respectful of the secret of the vote as the face-to-face vote ”.
Media war against Russian democracy
While the transnational media, obedient to the designs of Washington, has tried to vilify the sovereign process called by the democratically elected authorities of Russia, focusing on that everything would be a modification to perpetuate Vladimir Putin in power.
From the portal El Ciudadano, we verified in situ that this story only seeks to confuse world public opinion and weaken the image of a leader who has broad support, not only within his country where he was ratified in the last election with 77% of preferences, but is supported by key worldpowers, such as China.
It should be noted that according to the current Constitution, the amendments already approved by the Constitutional Court in March did not require a national citizen vote, for their entry into force. However, the Russian government and its President, in a sign of their deep democratic conviction, decided to submit the applied changes to the citizens’ decision, despite the symbolic risk of losing the election.
Although it is true that the constitutional amendments open the possibility for Putin’s re-election, these are much more extensive than the point on which the media has focused its criticisms and if we analyze some of them, we will be able to understand the reason for the attempt, by these media, to delegitimize the russian democratic process.
What are the amendments about?
Russia with Putin at the helm, became, once again, a very relevant actor on the international scene and the fact that it has opted for the construction of a multipolar world, taking away the role of the unipolar form preferred by the United States, has undoubtedly caused annoyance to the English-speaking superpower and its allies.
The constitutional amendments that explicitly seek to safeguard Russia’s interests are close to 200.
One of them establishes that the Russian Federation is a continuity of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which shows the value that history has for the Russians and will be written in the “new constitutional text”.
Another point of high interest and that accounts for their exercise of sovereignty and interest in safeguarding their right to self-determination is the amendment that states that “In accordance with the Law, the decisions made by supranational organizations in accordance with the provisions of international treaties of the Russian Federation will not apply in the Russian Federation if they contradict the Constitution of the Russian Federation ”, that is, any international provision that is considered to be against the “Russian dream” will not apply.
Furthermore, if it’s approved, hereinafter, “all persons holding public office in the Russian Federation will not be allowed to have citizenship of a foreign state or have a residence permit or any other document that allows its holder to reside permanently in a foreign country, as well as opening and maintaining accounts (deposits), or storing money and valuables in foreign banks located outside the Russian Federation”. A measure that should be imitated by many nations around the world after it became public knowledge how many presidents of a diverse number of countries and renowned politicians maintain bank accounts in tax havens.
Russia will also be recognized as a multi-ethnic nation, which will enhance the speaking of the Russian language, inside and outside its borders, with a view to recovering the lost linguistic community and promoting international centers to teach Russian as the Cervantes Institute does, with the Spanish language. .
In turn, Russia has declared the pension system on the basis of the principles of universality, justice and generational solidarity and will ensure that the minimum wage is not less than the average subsistence rate for people of working age.
The previous measure is added to that of establishing a new generation of social aid, putting children at the center as a priority of Russia’s national policy. “The Russian Federation guarantees the priority of family education. In the event that family education is not possible, the State assumes the parents’ obligations towards said children”, indicates part of the New Constitutional text.
Finally, one of the interesting amendments, and although Russia will continue to be a secular state, it puts the word “God” in its Constitution, thus reflecting the deep religious sentiment of its authorities and citizens.
The most controversial amendment
As we noted, there are almost 200 amendments. But there is one that has caused controversy and rejection by the LGTBI world, more outside, than within the borders of the Federation. This claim has been endorsed by the United States Embassy in Moscow, which has raised a rainbow flag in protest.
This is the amendment that stipulates “to protect the institution of marriage as the union of a man and a woman; creating conditions to raise children in families with dignity, as well as to educate children to fulfill their duty to care for their parents”.
This measure has caused a stir in sectors that defend gay marriage and have a globally funded agenda, to change legislation in different countries, in order to achieve the right to marriage and also in some cases, the adoption of children. There are organizations that have identified this particular amendment as discriminatory.
For their part, the Federation authorities have indicated that they do not want to discriminate against anyone, and that Russia is not homophobic. But that people’s sexual behaviors have to do with their private lives.
“We want our children to grow up in peace, without worries, as we did, and without adults intervening their ideas with themes that are for adults and not for children. Marriage in Russia will be between a man and a woman”, said a senior representative of the Russian government.
Electronic voting and technologies take center stage in Russia
Russia has taken an important step in the field of e-democracy. People whose electoral registry is in Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod can vote yes or no to the constitutional amendment online.
Consulted by El Ciudadano, the Russian expert in electronic government, Professor Massuh, who is one of the principal heads of the digital transformation in the country, has pointed out that “online voting guarantees the secret nature of the vote, since the registration data of the person are stored in a different database, from the one that registers the user’s vote, there is no data crossing and the process is backed by blockchain technology”.
When asked about user authentication, that is, knowing that whoever is voting is really who they say they are, he explained that “this has been a long process and that the platform on which citizens now also have the possibility of participating by voting, already has a few years in service. To have access to it and all the social benefits obtained from its use, there is a moment when the person, in order to have their access password, must attend in person with their identification ”, he responded to the Russian development of their System Unified Identification and Authentication.
Another fact that caught our attention is that the url for the participation of the process, is also available in Cyrillic alphabet, which according to the expert was achieved after an important agreement promoted by himself with the ICAAN.
Notable within the democratic process of the Russian Federation, is that they have developed a remote control center monitoring the electoral process. This center — which we had access to so as to know the details of its operation — receives and stores video images of each voting location.
The videos that are monitored 24 hrs a day by a large group of experts, serve as an alarm, to understand if there is any non-regular incidence in the electoral process. If the alarms go off, contact is immediately made with the polling place.
The electoral registry for online voting closed on June 21, and it is expected that nearly 1.5 million people will participate in this way.
To date, there has already been an attempt to hack the electronic voting system, using an “observer node”, but the system has been restored and is operating stable.
Right to self-determination
Those who know about Constitutions also know that it is necessary to renew the Social Contract of a society, at least every 20 years. Over time, societies change and need a new framework agreement for the life of the community. The ways to make the necessary transformations to a Constitution are different, through the constituent assembly, or by plebisciting the modifications as decided by the sovereign Russian Federation.
The Peoples Right to Self-determination, recognized in multiple international treaties, is the right of a people to decide their own forms of government, pursue their economic, social and cultural development, structure freely, without external interference and that is precisely what Russia is doing.
Russia has managed to congenialize the respect of an electoral calendar, without putting people’s health at risk, despite calls from the opposition not to participate in the process. Russia becomes a democratic example for other nations of the world with elections on the horizon, such as the case of Chile, whose plebiscite to approve or reject the drafting of a New Constitution and its elaboration mechanism, is dated October 25, 2020.
