MOSCOW: Russia\u2019s main independent voting observer Golos, which monitored the country\u2019s increasingly tightly-controlled elections for 25 years, announced its closure on Tuesday, two months after its co-chair was jailed.<\/p>\n
Golos \u2014 which means \u201cvoice\u201d in Russian \u2014 had for years meticulously recorded voting fraud across the huge country as elections under President Vladimir Putin\u2019s long rule turned into a ritual with little real choice.<\/p>\n
Putin faced no real competition at the last presidential election in 2024 and a domestic crackdown accompanying Moscow\u2019s Ukraine offensive has made voicing different views dangerous.<\/p>\n
\u201cJustice, alas, does not always win \u2014 it must be fought for. And there is always the risk of losing. This is how it turned out this time,\u201d Golos said in an online statement, adding: \u201cGoodbye.\u201d<\/p>\n
The group\u2019s co-chair Grigory Melkonyants, Russia\u2019s most respected independent election observer, was sentenced to five years in prison in May as part of the Kremlin\u2019s sweeping crackdown.<\/p>\n
Golos said it had \u201cno choice\u201d but to end its activity after the sentencing as it put its participants \u201cat risk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Melkonyants, 44, was found guilty of working with a European election monitoring association outlawed as an \u201cundesirable organization\u201d in Russia \u2014 which Golos has repeatedly denied.<\/p>\n
Golos has described itself as an \u201call Russian social movement in defense of voters\u2019 rights.\u201d<\/p>\n
It had observers across Russia\u2019s regions and had for years published online reports and maps of violations during elections and had a hotline to report voting fraud.<\/p>\n
It said Tuesday it had shut down its regional offices.<\/p>\n
International observers have for years reported widespread voter intimidation, ballot stuffing and other election fraud in Russia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MOSCOW: Russia\u2019s main independent voting observer Golos, which monitored the country\u2019s increasingly tightly-controlled elections for 25 years, announced its closure on Tuesday, two months after its co-chair was jailed. Golos \u2014 which means \u201cvoice\u201d in Russian \u2014 had for years meticulously recorded voting fraud across the huge country as elections under President Vladimir Putin\u2019s long […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488961,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-488957","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n