Сhair of the Central Election Commission of Russia, Ella Pamfilova, has commented on the Meduza outlet investigation about ballot stuffing during last year’s elections to the State Duma. Her comments were made during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin; the transcript of their conversation was published on the Kremlin website.
“You know, I initially thought they would target the upcoming campaign, and then they would build up their efforts during the presidential campaign. But instead, they targeted the previous campaign and decided to plant information claiming that deputies are illegitimate and the signed agreements with the Luhansk and Donetsk people’s republics have no force. They went too far. But this bubble burst instantly as even experts, who are rather critical of us, were simply appalled. I believe there are going to be many such bubbles, but I am confident we will overcome this,” Pamfilova said.
Meduza’s investigation claimed that during the last elections to the State Duma up to 17 million ballots could have been thrown in. According to the election results, the United Russia party received 28 million votes.