Golos

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The following important information is missing from this article or section:
first: legal form, second: update of the article for the period since 2016
Help Wikipedia by researching and pasting it .

Движение в защиту прав избирателей «Голос»
Movement for the Protection of Voters Rights "Golos"
Movement for Defense of Voters' Rights Golos Logo.png
purpose Election observation
Chair: Grigori Melkonjanz
Establishment date: June 13, 2000 (Association "Golos")
July 5, 2013 (Movement "Golos")
Seat : Moscow , RussiaRussiaRussia 
Website: http://www.golosinfo.org/ (Russian)
golosinfo.org (English)

The Movement for the Protection of Voting Rights "Golos" ( Russian Движение в защиту прав избирателей "Голос" , German voice ) is a Russian non-governmental organization whose main activity is the observation of elections and votes at all political levels. It was created in July 2013 from the Association for the Protection of Voting Rights "Golos" .

Origin and development

founding

The organization was founded in 2000 in order to give the Russian population the right to vote and a free society.

2008 election observation

During the 2008 presidential election in Russia , Golos reported that the elections went largely smoothly. Nevertheless, Golos criticized the work of the Central Election Commission and accused it of campaigning itself. The Golos observers had been denied access to many polling stations.

Election observation 2011

In the 2011 Russian parliamentary elections , the organization acted as an election observer.

In cooperation with the newspaper »Gazeta.ru«, it created a website to document violations of the election process. Citizens could report violations of the election regulations to Golos.

Via the hotline, there were reports of voting in groups and multiple times as well as the insertion of ballot papers. The so-called "carousel" was used in many places: For this purpose, voters are brought to polling stations where they are not registered, but are allowed to vote if they cannot vote at their place of residence; so it is possible for one voter to vote several times. Accredited observers were only allowed into the polling stations after the start of the voting or were expelled from polling stations on direct instructions from higher-level election commissions. Both the Golos website and sites that refer to it were exposed to DDoS attacks during the elections .

Golos correspondents on site also reported widespread cases in which the final meeting of the voting committee of the electoral district was not held and the vote count was not announced. Golos also alleged that they had been put under pressure by the government during the observation.

Golos himself was portrayed in the Russian media as a Western propaganda organization. In early December 2011, a Moscow court fined Golos 30,000 rubles ($ 970) for violating the electoral law that prohibits public opinion polls from being published in the five days leading up to the State Duma elections. Golos denied the charge.

Registration as a "foreign agent" and search

In July 2012, President Putin signed a new law entitled “ Social Organizations as Foreign Agents in Russia ”, which allows organizations and funds that accept donations from abroad and “engage in politics” to call themselves “foreign agents” in public communication Committed.

In 2012, Golos was awarded the Sakharov Prize for Civil Rights by the Norwegian Helsinki Committee. It was announced that the organization had not accepted the prize money . The Ministry of Justice registered Golos in April 2013 as a "foreign agent" on the grounds that it had accepted the prize money. Golos denied accepting funds from outside Russia after the law went into effect and was fined for refusing to register. Thereafter, in late June 2013, the organization was given a six-month ban on activities of any kind.

In response to this, the “Movement for Voting Rights' Golos” ”was re-established in early July. The movement was able to continue the work of the NGO Golos.

In July 2015, Russian police searched the offices and homes of Golos employees and confiscated equipment and computers. The reason put forward was a tax investigation. The search was accompanied by a recording group from the NTW TV station .

Election observation 2015

In a report in preparation for the Unified Election Day of the Russian Federation in 2015, Golos found violations of the CIS Convention on Standards for Democratic Elections signed by Russia . The possibility of election observation by public organizations is not guaranteed.

Dissolution of the organization in 2016

On July 28, 2016, a court in Moscow's Presnensky district ordered the dissolution of the Golos organization, which was founded in 2000. According to Grigori Mikonjanz, however, this has only existed formally since 2013 without its own employees and money, and election monitoring has since been carried out by the Golos movement. The organization wants to appeal and if necessary go to the European Court of Human Rights. The dissolution should take place within six months.

organization

structure

Election observation has been carried out by the new Golos movement since 2013. Since then, the Golos organization has continued to exist formally, without its own activity. The chairman is Grigori Melkonjanz. Andrei Busin, Juri Gurman, Arkadi Lyubarew and Roman Udot also belong to the board.

There are also legally independent regional organizations such as Golos Volga region in Samara and Golos-Ural in Chelyabinsk .

Golos is a member of the European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations (ENEMO). It belongs to the European Platform for Democratic Elections (epde), an association of election observers in Eastern Europe.

financing

Following an appeal by the Russian President's Human Rights Council, Golos regional organizations received funding from the Russian President's administration . In April 2013, Grigorij Melkonjanz, then deputy chairman of Golos, announced that the organization was only financed through donations from Russia. In addition to the presidential funding, Golos projects have in the past been supported by the European Commission , the US Agency for Development Cooperation (USAID) and the US National Endowment for Democracy (NED) foundation .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ archive.golos.org
  2. ↑ a b c About us. In: Movement for Defense of Voters' Rights “Golos” (own English-language website). Retrieved October 14, 2016 .
  3. ↑ Kremlin accused of silencing Russia's watchdog independent election. In: The Telegraph. Retrieved January 12, 2011.
  4. ↑ Информационное сообщение - Ассоциация «ГОЛОС». (No longer available online.) In: golos.org. Archived from the original on July 5, 2008 ; accessed on March 29, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / golos.org
  5. ↑ Elections in Russia: 'They leave us no choice'. RP Online, accessed March 29, 2016 .
  6. ↑ Карта нарушений на выборах. In: Гражданский проект при поддержке движения в защиту прав избирателей «Голос». Retrieved March 29, 2016 .
  7. ↑ a b Election observation: Declaration by the GOLOS Association on the elections of the State Duma deputies on December 4, 2011. In: bpb.de. Federal Agency for Civic Education, accessed on March 29, 2016 .
  8. ^ A b Michael Ludwig: Russia pressure on election observers . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . December 5, 2011, ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed March 29, 2016]).
  9. ↑ 'Hacking attacks' hit Russian political sites. In: BBC News. Retrieved April 12, 2016 (UK English).
  10. ^ Samuel A. Greene: Moscow in Movement: Power and Opposition in Putin's Russia . Ed .: Stanford Univ. Press. Stanford, Calif 2014, ISBN 978-0-8047-9244-8 , pp. 207 (English).
  11. ↑ Federal Agency for Civic Education: Documentation: First declaration by the GOLOS Association on the results of the long-term monitoring of local elections and the presidential elections, March 4, 2012: Pressure on GOLOS | bpb. In: www.bpb.de. Retrieved March 29, 2016 .
  12. ↑ Mikhail Fishman: Putin's mobilization no longer works . In: Welt Online . December 2, 2011 ( welt.de [accessed March 29, 2016]).
  13. ↑ Elections législatives en Russie: Le parti de Poutine obtient la majorité absolue , 20minutes.fr, December 4, 2011
  14. ↑ a b Klaus Helge Donath: Opposition in Russia: election observers as foreign agents . In: the daily newspaper . November 4, 2013 ( taz.de [accessed on March 29, 2016]).
  15. ↑ Legal actions against Golos violates human rights - Den norske Helsingforskomité. (No longer available online.) In: nhc.no. Archived from the original on April 12, 2016 ; Retrieved April 12, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / nhc.no
  16. ↑ Julia Smirnova: Putin's critics end up in the "agent register" . In: Welt Online . April 11, 2013 ( welt.de [accessed April 12, 2016]).
  17. ↑ Russia: First "agents" should pay. In: Die Zeit Online from April 10, 2013.
  18. ↑ Russia NGO law: Election watchdog Golos suspended - BBC News. In: BBC News. Retrieved April 12, 2016 (UK English).
  19. ↑ July 23, 2013 Tricks against Putin's agent law. zeit.de, July 23, 2013
  20. ↑ Russia NGO law: Election watchdog Golos suspended , BBC, June 26, 2013.
  21. ↑ abc.net.au
  22. ↑ newsweek.com
  23. ↑ Russia Cracks Down on Moscow Election Monitors. In: Newsweek . Human Rights Watch , July 9, 2015, accessed March 29, 2016 .
  24. ↑ Движение "Голос" заявило о невозможности НКО наблюдать за выборами . In: Радио Свобода . July 13, 2015 ( svoboda.org [accessed July 13, 2015]).
  25. ↑ Аналитический отчет №1. О соблюдении принципов и стандартов демократических выборов на этапах подготовки, стандитовки, анозначения в. Retrieved July 13, 2015 .
  26. ↑ Documentation: National Election Day. In: bpb.de. Federal Agency for Civic Education, accessed on April 12, 2016 .
  27. ^ Russian court orders the dissolution of the NGO Golos in: derstandard.at, July 28, 2016.
  28. ↑ About us. In: Golos. Retrieved April 12, 2016 .
  29. ↑ a b Russia’s most foreign agent | How one human rights group became the country's most harassed organization. In: Meduza. Retrieved April 12, 2016 (American English).
  30. ↑ Member Organizations. In: www.enemo.eu. Retrieved April 12, 2016 .
  31. ^ About us - European Platform for Democratic Elections. In: www.epde.org. Retrieved April 12, 2016 .
  32. ↑ Russia: Golos Faces 'Foreign Agent' Case. In: Sky News. Retrieved April 12, 2016 (UK English).
  33. ↑ Ellen Barry: Russia Puts Pressure on Election Monitor, Golos . In: The New York Times . December 1, 2011, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed April 19, 2016]).
  34. ↑ USAID Exit to Hit Small Organizations Hard | News. In: The Moscow Times. Retrieved April 12, 2016 .
  35. ↑ Interregional Civic Foundation in Support of Civil Society Development "GOLOS" ($ 51,477) "GOLOS will seek to motivate undecided or apathetic voters to participate in the elections and will monitor the electoral process." 2011 Annual Report ( Memento of January 18, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), ned.org.