More Appeals for Moscow to Delay or Cancel Constitutional Amendment Referendum

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 11 – A week ago, Vladimir Pastukhov called on the Kremlin to postpone or even cancel the referendum on the proposed constitutional amendments because going ahead with it while the country is still suffering from a pandemic is “a mistake that is worse than a crime” (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2020/06/for-putin-constitutional-plebiscite.html).

            Now more voices are being raised to the same end; and while it is unlikely that Vladimir Putin will follow their advice, the willingness of Russians to speak out against something the Kremlin leader has made so central to his plans speaks volumes about where Russians are when it comes to Putin and his handling of both the state and the pandemic. 

            Vyacheslav Zilanov, a former deputy fisheries minister, says that postponing the referendum would allow the powers that be to save face and points out that Putin himself provided himself with this option if he wants to exercise it as the epidemiological and political situation requires (realtribune.ru/news/authority/4426).

            When Putin rescheduled the vote for July 1, Zilanov points out, the president said that the referendum would occur on that date if “no unexpected circumstances interfered.”  But the pandemic continues, there are problems about staging the election and getting people to vote, and so Putin should use his own “out” and postpone the event.

            A more significant voice against the referendum has come from some 400 people who were slated to work the polls for the referendum. They have issued an open letter, available at docs.google.com/document/d/1deOetzZejFh8oUrYVqeIOiu890Ht_h904_BoVVwOjYI/edit, saying that they do not want to put their health or the health of others by manning voting places.

            Their language is blunt: “By taking part in the organization of voting on July 1, we not only subject our families to mortal danger,” the poll workers say. “We are at risk of becoming real murders for many voters.” That is a risk they say they are unwilling to take for something that could easily be postponed.   

           

And Moscow sociologist Grigory Yudin outlines the reasons why the powers that be themselves have an interest in avoiding having the plebiscite go forward. If it does, he warns, it could easily blow up in Putin’s face even if he eeks out a victory given how many will read such a result (echo.msk.ru/blog/grishayudin/2658890-echo/).

            Russians have already taken note of the fact that the regime is putting unprecedented pressure on people to vote its way. That shows that the authorities have no confidence, are willing to ignore the law to get the result they want, and that Russians are “tired of Putin and don’t need him around forever.”

            The regime’s strategy will only work if it gets a majority and if those who orchestrated it keep quiet about the methods they are employing. The former is possible, but the latter is highly improbable. And when they come forward, Yudin says, Russians will be even more disillusioned with the regime than they are now.

            Russians need to speak out about this now so the referendum can be postponed or cancelled. People may assume that they can go and vote against Putin no matter what. But given that the regime has eliminated the possibility for monitoring, this will be a case where what matters is not how people vote but who counts the vote.

            And the pandemic only intensifies these dangers, he suggests. On the one hand, it shows that the regime is prepared to put people’s health at risk to get an electoral action it wants. And on the other, and it highlights that the regime is prepared to put the most pressure to vote its way on those who have been sacrificing the most to fight the pandemic – medical workers.