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Golos (election monitor)

Coordinates: 55°46′21.5″N 37°40′20″E / 55.772639°N 37.67222°E / 55.772639; 37.67222
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For the Russian film, see The Voice (1982 film).

Golos
Movement for Defence of Voters' Rights Golos
Formation
  • 2000 (2000) ("GOLOS" Association)
  • 2013 (2013) ("Golos" Movement)[1]
Legal statusMovement
PurposeElection monitoring
Location
Coordinates55°46′21.5″N 37°40′20″E / 55.772639°N 37.67222°E / 55.772639; 37.67222
FieldElections in Russia
Key people
  • Grigory Melkonyants (co-chair)
  • Stanislav Andreychuk (co-chair)
  • Roman Udot (co-chair)[2]
Award(s)Andrei Sakharov Freedom Award (2012)
Websitewww.golosinfo.org/en Edit this at Wikidata

The Movement for Defence of Voters' Rights "Golos" (Russian: ГОЛОС, lit. 'vote; voice'), formerly GOLOS Association,[3] is a Russian organisation established in 2000 to protect the electoral rights of citizens and to foster civil society. As of 2008, the organisation covers 40 Russian regions. It is the only election watchdog active in Russia that is independent of the Russian government.[4]

Founding

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GOLOS was founded as an association of non-profit organizations in 2000 to support civil monitoring of elections.[5]

Funding

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Michael McFaul, a Russian ambassador at the time, claimed in 2012 that Golos was funded a US government agency. However, he didn't disclose details on for how long.[6] Before being expelled from Russia in September 2012, USAID had been partly funding Golos.[7]

Activities

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Since 2002 GOLOS has monitored elections and referendums of all levels. The Telegraph describes GOLOS as being "one of the few organisations able to catalogue and publicise [the Kremlin's] attempts at fraud and intimidation".[4]

The group publishes a newspaper called Grazhdansky Golos (Civil Voice).

2008 presidential election

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In the 2008 presidential election and accompanying local elections, GOLOS representatives found many irregularities, including the following.[8]

2011 legislative election

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During the 2011 Russian legislative election, 2,000 monitors coordinated by GOLOS took part in election observation.[9]

GOLOS set up an interactive map of violations to which users could submit reports, video evidence, audio recordings and photographs.[10] It attracted over 4,500 reports alleging illegal campaign tactics, including stories of employers threatening workers with pay cuts and local officials ordering business leaders to pressure subordinates.[11][12]

Citing the map, Russian prosecutors charged GOLOS with publishing election data during the five days before voting.[9] It also accused Golos of "dissemination of rumors under the guise of trustworthy reports, with the goal of defaming a party as well as its individual members.”[9] Golos was subsequently fined for these alleged breaches.[11]

During the election, the website was subjected to Denial-of-service attacks.[13][12] The state-owned channel NTV showed reports accusing GOLOS Association of disrupting the elections paid for by the United States.[14]

2012 "foreign agent" registration and prosecution

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In early 2012, Russia introduced legislation which required NGOs receiving foreign donations to present themselves as "foreign agents" in outward communication.[15][16]

The same year, GOLOS received the Andrei Sakharov Freedom Award of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee. While both Golos and the Helsinki Committee stated that Golos had not accepted the prize money, Russia's Justice Ministry in April 2013 used it as a reason to qualify Golos as the first "foreign agent" under the new legislation.[17] After GOLOS refused to register as such, it was suspended in June 2013 for six months.[18] After its suspension in 2013, GOLOS reorganized as civil movement "Golos" to continue its work.[5]

On 7 July 2015, Russian police raided the offices and the homes of several Golos employees and confiscated equipment including computers. Police linked the raids to a tax investigation against the head of the group's branch in Samara.[19] The police raid was accompanied by a TV crew from state-controlled NTV.[20]

In February 2016, the Justice Ministry asked Moscow's Basmanny District Court to ban GOLOS, citing a failure to present proper documentation.[21]

In July 2016, a court ordered the liquidation of Golos within six months due to "serious irremediable breaches of law”. Golos is appealing the decision.[22]

Russian invasion of Ukraine

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Main article: Russian Invasion of Ukraine

During the Russian invasion of Ukraine Golos has been persecuted by the Russian government due to the anti-war attitude that many members of the movement share. The movement's candidate for the 2024 Russian presidential election, Grigory Melkonyants, has been under strict supervision by Russian authorities, and 14 of his associates had their homes searched across eight different oblasts. Vladimir Yegorov, the party's election coordinator, was arrested for "disobeying the police" during the search of his home.[23]

Structure

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From around 2011[24] through to 2021, Golos was a member of the European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations (ENEMO).[25][26] As of 2016, it is a member of the European Platform for Democratic Elections (epde) an association of election monitors in Eastern Europe.[27]

After its suspension in 2013, Golos reorganized as a civil movement.[5] It consists of independent organizations such as Golos-Povolzhye (located in Samara) and Golos-Ural (located in Chelyabinsk).[28]

After an appeal by the Presidential Human Rights Council, regional organization of Golos received funds from Russia's presidential administration.[28] In April 2013, the head of Golos Grigory Melkonyants announced that it suspended any foreign funding.[29] In addition to the presidential grants, projects of Golos in the past have received donations from the European Commission,[9] USAID[30] as well as NED.[31]

Support from Memorial

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On 30 November 2011 the board of the "Memorial International Society" supported GOLOS against attacks from pro-Kremlin media:[32]

The article published by "Rossiyskaya Gazeta" about this respected organization is no different from the Soviet writings against Andrei Sakharov and Alexander Solzhenitsyn. ... The main KGB-styled complaint is simple: the organization receives money from foreign organizations and thus leads subversion. The same claim against the non-governmental organizations was voiced in a very rude manner and in a speech at the congress of Putin's "United Russia". ... We express our support and respect of the GOLOS Association and anyone who strives to make to reduce the number of possible fraud in the upcoming elections.

References

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  1. ^ "Russia names Golos monitor as 'foreign agent' ahead of election". BBC News. 19 August 2021. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  2. ^ "About us". Golos. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  3. ^ The GOLOS Association's web site(in Russian), English articles.
  4. ^ a b Andrew Osborn (1 December 2011). "Kremlin accused of silencing Russia's independent election watchdog". The Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Wikidata Q131481221. Archived from the original on 14 January 2013.
  5. ^ a b c "About us". golosinfo.org. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  6. ^ "The smear that killed the 'reset'". Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  7. ^ "Russia expels USAID development agency". BBC News. 19 September 2012. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  8. ^ STATEMENT # 3 OF GOLOS ASSOCIATION ON THE RESULTS OF SHORT-TERM MONITORING OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS ON MARCH 2, 2008 Archived July 5, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, The GOLOS Association, Moscow, March 3, 2008
  9. ^ a b c d Barry, Ellen (1 December 2011). "Russia Puts Pressure on Election Monitor, Golos". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  10. ^ "Карта нарушений на выборах". kartanarusheniy.org. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  11. ^ a b Barry, Ellen (2 December 2011). "Russian Election Monitor Golos Fined $1,000 by Judge". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  12. ^ a b "'Hacking attacks' hit Russian political sites". BBC News. 8 March 2012. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  13. ^ Soldatov, Andrei (9 December 2011). "Vladimir Putin's Cyber Warriors". Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  14. ^ Суд оштрафовал ассоциацию "Голос" Lenta.ru (in Russian)
  15. ^ "Russian Duma adopts NGO "foreign agents" bill". B92. 13 July 2012. Archived from the original on 16 September 2013. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  16. ^ For Nearly 5 Hours, a Showcase of Putin’s Fully Intact Confidence April 25, 2013 New York Times
  17. ^ "Legal actions against Golos violates human rights - Den norske Helsingforskomité". nhc.no. Archived from the original on 12 April 2016. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  18. ^ "Russia NGO law: Election watchdog Golos suspended". BBC News. 26 June 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
  19. ^ "Russian police crack down on election monitors and watchdogs". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 8 July 2015.
  20. ^ "Russia Cracks Down on Moscow Election Monitors". Newsweek. 9 July 2015.
  21. ^ "Russian Justice Ministry to Ban Election Monitor Golos | News". The Moscow Times. 11 February 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  22. ^ "Ban on Golos NGO appealed in Moscow court". RAPSI. 29 August 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  23. ^ Bailey, Riley; Mappes, Grace; Evans, Angelica; Harward, Christina; Kagan, Frederick W. "Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, August 17, 2023". Institute for the Study of War. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  24. ^ "Member organisations". European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations. 2011. Archived from the original on 29 January 2011.
  25. ^ "Members". European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations. 2021. Archived from the original on 2 August 2021.
  26. ^ "Members". European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations. 2022. Archived from the original on 27 November 2022.
  27. ^ "About us - European Platform for Democratic Elections". www.epde.org. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  28. ^ a b "Russia's most foreign agent: How one human rights group became the country's most harassed organization — Meduza". Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  29. ^ "Russia: Golos Faces 'Foreign Agent' Case". Sky News. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  30. ^ "USAID Exit to Hit Small Organizations Hard". 20 September 2012. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  31. ^ 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". Archived from the original on 18 January 2013. Retrieved 22 September 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link), ned.org.
  32. ^ (in Russian)Правление Международного общества «Мемориал», В поддержку Ассоциации «Голос», Grani.ru, 30 November 2011
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