We kindly invite you to the online expert discussion "Is the king naked? Presidential race in Russia - a question of legitimacy and international recognition" on 14 March 2024 at 4pm (CET).

This year's presidential elections in Russia will be held under conditions that may severely challenge their recognition as genuine. Nearly 5 million residents of the occupied areas of eastern Ukraine and Crimea will forcibly be added to the Russian electorate, often with no requirement of Russian citizenship. The death of Alexei Navalny and shocking sentences for opposition leaders leave the voters without a real choice and are meant to intimidate potential challengers to the incumbent, whose candidacy is based on a manipulated and questionable "referendum."

Fundamental civil liberties such as freedom of opinion, information, expression and association have been effectively eliminated. Increasingly widespread use of electronic voting undermines remnants of transparency. Citizen election observation is not allowed by law and credible international election observation of ODIHR/OSCE is being replaced by loyal observers from Kremlin-friendly organisations.

In view of the grave violation of all relevant international standards, can we still talk about “elections” in Russia? What possible consequences could international leaders draw towards the new Kremlin leadership? What would be consequences of international recognition of these “elections”? What would be possible impact of their non-recognition?

Speakers:

  • Olga Ajvasovska, Chair of the boards of the Civil Network OPORA (Ukraine) and of the Global Network of Domestic Election Monitors (GNDEM)
  • Alexander Shlyk, Independent Election Expert
  • Dr. Jan Matti Dollbaum, Head of the Research group on Mobilization and Participation in Post-Soviet Eastern Europe at the Ludwig Maximilians Universität München and Co-author of the book "Navalny Putin's Nemesis, Russia's Future"

Moderated by Stefanie Schiffer, Chair of the board, European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE)

Please register using this link.

The event will be held in English with Ukrainian and Russian translation. The event is organized by European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE) in partnership with Civil Network OPORA.