On 16 May, representatives of the High Commissioner’s for Human Rights Office participated in 48th special session of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights. The session was dedicated to issues of voting rights ensuring and public participation in election process monitoring.

Director of the Department for Protection of Political Rights of the High Commissioner’s Office Irina Skupova told the audience about results of work on voting rights protection. For instance, in 2015 the High Commissioner’s Office representatives visited 17 Russian regions during regional election campaigns.

In the run-up to the State Duma elections the federal and regional commissioners prepare for the full monitoring of law compliance during the elections. Representatives of the human rights commissioner institution will monitor possible violations both during the agitation period and on the election day. Within the framework of the monitoring of voting rights violations, site inspections are planned. Moreover, a hot line will work in order to provide efficient responding to the voter’s reports.

This work will assist to estimate the voting rights observance during the election campaign, analyse the problem aspects and elaborate proposals to improve the situation with political rights and liberties protection in the Russian Federation.